Cherry Blossom Crush
by Paraskavas NS
Summary: Struggling with pride and insecurities, two life-long friends attempt to come to terms with unfamiliar surroundings and unfamiliar feelings. NaruSaku AU
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! So this is my first published story on here. I'd love to hear some feedback on what you think of it, and I'll be sure to keep updating with more chapters from here on out! The story starts off a little ways into the Road To Ninja Movie, with Naruto being upset about all his friends receiving recommendations for Jonin promotions. It's a story I've had in my head for a while now, and I'm excited to write it down and share it with all of you. Please, enjoy!

_Disclaimer: All characters and terms and locations belong to Masashi Kishimoto, I am but a humble fan of his work._

_**Chapter 1**_

"Hey, I'm home!" Naruto shouted with a half-hearted yell. He opened the door to his apartment to find the place completely empty, save for the trash and dirty clothes littered all over his floor. Any excitement he had was quickly extinguished. _I don't know what I was expecting. _He thought. _I don't have any parents. There's no one to recommend me for Jonin._ "Whatever." He sighed out sadly. _...Wait a second!_ He thought to himself, as a brilliant idea came to mind. _There is somebody who can recommend me! _Naruto's heart was beating quickly again as he raced back out his door. Hope was flooding his heart as a familiar brown-haired ponytail came walking into sight.

The light was especially blinding that night at Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto thought to himself as he pushed through the curtained banner in front of the counter. Teuchi was busy cooking with his back turned, already preparing a meal for his favorite customer.

"So, what did you wanna talk about?" Iruka asked as he sat down, looking at Naruto with his familiar kind-hearted smile. Teuchi placed two glasses of water down for his guests.

_ No point in beating around the bush. _"Uh, Iruka sensei, listen. You think you can submit a Jonin application for me?" Naruto asked meekly. No matter what, Naruto couldn't help feeling like the young academy student he used to be when sitting next to Iruka.

Iruka's face quickly changed to a more stern look as he asked "What?".

Feeling more nervous than ever, Naruto looked away, unable to maintain eye contact. "It's just that all my other classmates are gonna have their parents fill out applications for them… Well, uh, I uh…" Naruto trailed off.

"Nope. Sorry, I won't." Iruka stated firmly.

Hurt by his answer, Naruto looked back to his former teacher. "But why not?"

"Because THAT step is supposed to come AFTER you become a CHUNIN." Iruka answered, being extra sure to emphasize his point. "Sure you saved us from Pain, and everyone calls you 'The Hero of the Hidden Leaf' but I can't give you special treatment." Naruto set his face in his hand, obviously annoyed by the lecture already and trying to physically ignore his teacher. Unphased, Iruka continued. "I mean, even your dad worked his way up the ranks. From Genin, to Chunin, to Jonin, to become Hokage. Then he went on to become a hero."

Naruto angrily spat out "And become just a face carved into a rock." Iruka found himself glaring down at his former pupil. "But you know what? Rocks can't welcome you home…"

Feeling concerned for Naruto, Iruka said his name softly almost without thinking as Naruto continued on.

"Can I tell you something? What I think about sometimes? He shouldn't have become a hero carved into a rock, he should have just stayed put somewhere so he could say 'Welcome home!' to me." Naruto bowed his head down onto the counter as if the weight of this reality were physically pushing him down. With water fighting to surface in his eyes, Naruto kept going. "Iruka sensei... Your parents-"

Enraged at the direction Naruto was heading, Iruka shouted "Cut it out! Enough!" Iruka was half standing at this point and leaning on his elbow menacingly towards Naruto, who had leaned away in surprise. Iruka sighed as he regained his composure and sat back down. "What's going on with you today?"

"Just forget it." Naruto whispered dejectedly, looking away. Thankfully, Teuchi interrupted the soon to be awkward silence with his annunciation of the now-ready food.

"Sorry about the wait." Teuchi said brightly. "Here's some barbecue pork for you, Naruto." He smiled as he placed the bowl directly in front of the blond. Naruto looked down at the bowl, his anger seeming to multiply by the second as he studied the meal in front of him.

"Hey old man, there isn't any naruto fish cake in this." Naruto said, spite cloaking his tone.

"Ah yeah, sorry 'bout that." Teuchi said, being reminded of this himself. "We're all out. I just put a whole bunch of menma in there for ya' instead." Teuchi sounded as happy as he always did as he pointed towards the menu, which held an "All out!" sign over the fish cake.

Standing in a rage, Naruto yelled out "Are you kidding?! I hate menma! What in the hell is this crap made from, anyway?! It's just so _gross!_" Iruka was becoming equally infuriated as Naruto's blatant disrespect continued, none of which Teuchi seemed to notice.

"Well actually," Teuchi explained. "You take bamboo chutes, ferment 'em, and then ya-"

"Great, so it's rotten bamboo leaves." Naruto interrupted the kind old man as he crossed his arms and turned his back.

Standing up, Iruka yelled "You're the only thing that's rotten here!" as he pointed in Naruto's face, much as he used to years ago. This time, Naruto didn't back away and stared straight into Iruka's lecturing gaze as if to challenge him in defiance. Iruka became angrier and grabbed Naruto by the shoulders as they tensed every muscle in their bodies.

Noticing the clenched fists, Teuchi held out his arms as if he was trying to physically separate the two, although much too far away to do so. "Hey hey! No fighting in the shop!"

Iruka let down his arms and backed away, keeping his eyes fixed on Naruto's. "Ramen without any naruto in it, isn't really what I call ramen at all." Naruto said, slamming some loose change on the counter before running out of the shop… Leaving Iruka to cover the rest of the bill.

"Why do you always have to be so rebellious?" Were the next words Naruto heard, coming from a nearby window. Looking around, he realized he was standing outside Sakura's house and the yelling voice was Sakura's mom.

"Why are you always going on about stuff that doesn't matter?" Sakura yelled back, just as angrily. "I'm not a little kid anymore!" The room was bright and the pale yellow walls of the hallway were bare of all decoration, save for a picture commemorating Sakura's promotion to Chunin. An occasion on which, Sakura stopped to remember, she was extremely annoyed at her parents teasing and embarrassing her in front of the entire village. Her father had said something about how he didn't think she'd make it, considering how timid and afraid of everything she was. She snapped back to the present angrier than ever, and resumed walking away from her infuriating mother.

"Hold on!" Her mother yelled shrilly. "I'm not done talking to you!"

"Hmph." Sakura grunted. "Just stop butting into my life." She slammed the door and walked out into the night as her mom continued to yell behind her.

Running down the stairs, Sakura was surprised to nearly bump into Naruto who was just now walking by.

They stood there for a short moment, Naruto nearly blushing from being so close to Sakura all of a sudden. Naruto stammered out "H-Hey, Sakura." No matter his attempt to sound excited, his tone of voice was low and seemingly downtrodden.

Immediately, Sakura could tell that something was wrong with Naruto. She had almost forgotten about the argument she had with her mom until hearing, "Sakura, get back here!" as her mom burst out the front door. Just as quickly as she had forgotten her anger, she forgot her concern too. As enraged as before, she turned from her mother and grabbed Naruto forcefully by the wrist and yelled "Come on! You're going on a date with me, let's go!" She angrily dragged him away, thankful for the excuse to get away from her mom who had seemingly given up the fight at the sight of Naruto.

More nervous and afraid than he was excited, Naruto struggled to keep up with Sakura's pace. "U-Uh sure, okay. I'm up for some fun, but based on the way this date's starting-"

"Shut up!" Sakura shouted, silencing him. Naruto watched as her hand rapidly left his wrist and managed to slap him at the same time as she grabbed his ear, yanking him closer and causing him to shout out in pain.

His voice higher than usual in response to the sharp clenching on his ear, Naruto tried to yell out to Sakura again. "I'm pretty sure blowing off steam doesn't count as a date!" A nearby woman looked on, laughing silently to herself at the sight of the couple. "Hey, Sakura, let up!" Sakura's hold on Naruto had him feeling completely off balance and it was all he could do not to fall over into the dirt. The only response he got, however, was a tighter and tighter pinch on his ear.

She eventually let go, but the walk was quiet and awkward. The only noise between the two was random banter between people on the street and the sound of cats rummaging through trash cans in back alleys. They continued on walking side by side in silence until they reached the local playground, a spot Naruto had spent many of his pre-academy days in.

Naruto sat still on his swing with his eyes fixed on Sakura, who was standing on hers and using her hips to swing herself back and forth. Keeping his eyes on her, Naruto broke the silence. "Uh, Sakura? It sounded like your mom wanted you to come back."

Without looking at him, Sakura immediately replied. "It's best to leave her alone. She's always like this, butting in on every little thing you do and trying to tell you exactly how you should be doing it!" Naruto continued staring at her, slightly surprised by the rant. "And my dad is no better, either. Would it be so hard to take my side once in a while? But nooo! He always does whatever she says!" Naruto was still listening intently, but now felt conflicted with the situation. On one hand, he genuinely felt for Sakura and wanted to be there for her while she was upset. On the other hand, he couldn't help but think of her as an ungrateful child who complained about something that Naruto had only wished he could experience. "According to them, I'm a no good ninja with no shot at becoming a Jonin! Give me a break!" Sakura was gaining momentum in her speech and swinging faster and faster, as Naruto was growing more and more annoyed and less and less concerned.

"You know what?" He asked, easily ignored by the irate Sakura.

"Why couldn't I have different parents, ones who were capable of respect like everyone else's? I'd be better off without them." That was it. Sakura had no idea what she was talking about, and Naruto had no intention of letting her continue on.

Grinding his teeth together as his body tensed in anger, Naruto said to Sakura. "Okay I think you're going too far now."

Absolutely outraged by what she was hearing, Sakura jumped off her swing to turn and face Naruto. "What? Are you kidding me?! You're going to take _their _side?!" She screamed at him.

Standing up to face her, Naruto replied more calmly. "No, that's not what I'm saying-"

Unwilling to hear him, Sakura crossed her arms and cut him off. "Ugh. Why did it have to be you who's here with me right now?"

Naruto stopped mid thought. He knew what she was going to say, but all he could do was stand there and listen.

As she turned her back on him, Sakura sighed almost to herself. "If Sasuke were here, he'd definitely understand me…"

She might as well have stabbed him in the heart. It was a quick jolt, one that sent a quick surge of pain throughout Naruto's entire body. It always hurt when she talked about Sasuke, but this time was different. She was blatantly stating how she'd prefer to have Sasuke here over Naruto despite all he was trying to do for her, and that nullification of his efforts for her caused him more pain than most battles he had ever managed to endure.

He stood there for a minute, staring quietly down at the ground as Sakura brooded by herself. It was then that he noticed a bright mark glowing at his ankle and heard an all too familiar voice call out to him.

"It's been a while, Uzumaki Naruto." Madara was sitting with his legs and arms crossed on the other side of the park. The last time they met was in the Land of Iron, and Naruto had just learned of Sasuke's affiliation with the Akatsuki. He remembered talking with Madara and learning of Itachi's plight, but this time Naruto had no intention of listening to the masked man.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted as he leapt through the air. Dense as ever, he had forgotten about Madara's ability to phase through physical attacks and Naruto went flying into the chain link fence.

Madara laughed shortly to himself. "You never change." Hearing a woman shouting, Madara looked up to see Sakura raining down on him from above. Knowing her superhuman strength, he decided this was more trouble than it was worth and teleported away from her as she blew a crater in the ground.

Cracking her knuckles, Sakura turned to face the villain. "I won't let you attack our village!" She found herself standing directly in front of Naruto, aware that the Akatsuki intended on stealing the Kyuubi. Thinking to herself, she wasn't sure whether she meant to say she was defending the village or she was solely defending Naruto.

Unphased by her display of strength, Madara spoke to them. "This is unplanned, but it doesn't matter." He held a glass orb in his hand, and something about his chilling calm held Naruto and Sakura in place, neither willing to charge so recklessly at him again. They simply watched as he tossed the orb in the air, revealing a blood red moon they hadn't noticed before. In a flash of light, Naruto swore he saw the Rinnegan for a moment before being blinded and forced to look away.

"Madara! What are you-" He shouted, before being drowned out by Sakura's scream.

Hopelessly confused, Naruto and Sakura looked desperately for a trace of Madara, finding nothing.

"What? What was that? Where did he go? This is bad news…" Naruto stated loudly, obviously in a panic.

In a much more calm demeanor, Sakura turned to her teammate with worry shrouding her voice. "He could still be around here. We need to let everyone know!" They both turned to run from the park, finding Team Kurenai just outside the fence.

"Hey guys, what are you doing?" Kiba asked, more from formalities rather than curiosity.

"Perfect!" Naruto shouted. "You guys came at just the right time."

"We're in trouble." Sakura continued for Naruto. "Madara was just here."

Whatever reaction they were expecting, Team Kurenai gave anything but. Hinata, Kiba, and Shino all stared completely unaffected by this information.

"Hey, are you even listening?!" Naruto asked angrily, annoyed by the lack of a response.

Sounding a little defensive, Kiba replied "Yeah I'm listening, but… What do you mean by Madara? I don't get it." Kiba was absent mindedly picking his ear and busy looking at the earwax he pulled out.

"Grrr, this isn't the time for your stupid jokes!" Naruto was thrashing in place while screaming at Kiba, and so far neither Naruto or Sakura had managed to notice what was different about the trio. Naruto failed to notice the change in tattoos on Kiba's face due to his anger, and Sakura failed to notice Hinata's promiscuous outfit due to the fact that the kunoichi was unnervingly staring straight through Sakura's soul, it seemed. It wasn't until Akamaru ferociously bit Kiba and that they started arguing as if they hated each other that Naruto and Sakura really noticed that something was off. The fact that Hinata, the most timid girl in the Leaf, had threatened to kill Sakura for being alone with Naruto really sent home the idea. As Naruto and Sakura hurried to run away from the confusing, and quite frankly, scary situation they managed to run into another team from their childhood, team Asuma... And this team was just as strange as the last.

Shikamaru was fat and stupid, going on about food while Choji discouraged the thought. If this wasn't disturbing enough, the sight of Ino giggling and prancing up to the two of them like a little school sweetheart was enough to send shivers down their spines. Restraining Sakura from freaking out, Naruto pulled her away as Team 10 continued on their way, arguing about barbeque and money.

"That was… disturbing." Naruto said, his face buried in his hands. Sakura was sitting next to him on the stone staircase, right by the hokage monument. Sakura was staring off into the night sky as rain clouds came rolling in, and Naruto was furiously rubbing his forehead as he cried out "Urrrgh! I feel like I'm losing my mind!" Sakura tilted her head down lower and looked towards Naruto out of the corner of her eye. "I keep trying to release a genjutsu, but nothing's working!"

"I don't think this is a genjutsu, Naruto." Sakura said softly. "I think Madara used some kind of jutsu to pull us into a whole other world."

Sounding more despaired than ever, Naruto turned to face Sakura. "Ehhh? You really think that's possible?"

"Well, if this is really the Madara of legends, then anything's possible I guess." Sakura said as she rested her chin in her hands. She let herself get distracted and started trying to count the shining windows of the city, whose numbers seemed to rival that of the stars.

Naruto became distracted as well, not only by the starlit city but by Sakura too. The moon was still bright in the sky and Sakura looked as if she was glowing. Naruto had always known she was beautiful but something about her just seemed captivating tonight, as if he couldn't look away no matter how hard he tried. Not that he would want to look away, that is. _You rarely ever see something so beautiful. _He thought to himself. Sakura noticed him staring, and she felt herself getting warmer by the second as her face started glowing a bright red. She tilted her head away in an attempt to hide her blush and Naruto smiled slightly, thinking it cute when she got embarrassed.

"Yo." In an instant, the subtle aura between the two shattered like glass. That familiar voice knocked them to their feet with Naruto throwing himself in front of Sakura. _I'll be damned if he hurts Sakura again, not while I'm here. Not this time! _The animosity in both their faces and the weapons drawn clearly threw Sasuke back, who wasn't expecting this kind of reaction.

Throwing his hands up in the air and laughing nervously, Sasuke tried to ease the tension. "Hey hey, easy there! I meant to startle you, but I didn't think you would take it so personally!"

"Sasuke! What are you doing here?!" Naruto was shocked and afraid and didn't know how to react. By asking this he meant 'What are you doing in the village?' but Sasuke took it as 'What are you doing with Sakura and me right now?'

"Well I wanted to see my two best friends, but I didn't realize they were out on a date." Sasuke said, a hint of jealousy on his tongue as a slight pout took his face while he looked away. Sakura and Naruto eased up and looked at each other, even more surprised and confused than ever. Sasuke? Pouting? This really _was_ a different world.

They turned back to see Sasuke staring straight at them. It wasn't until now that they noticed he looked… Well, laid back. Calm. There wasn't a darkness looming inside his eyes, and he was dressed in a t-shirt, jacket, and slacks, a very odd combination for someone who never seemed to be able to relax.

"Hmph. Well, whatever. Sorry I interrupted, Menma." Sasuke grunted out in usual demeanor. At least some things stayed the same.

"Eh? Menma?" Naruto looked appalled at the name, and burned a bright red remembering his outburst at the expense of Teuchi.

"Don't tell me I scared you so bad you forgot your own name?" Sasuke laughed. "Sakura, are you sure the hero's daughter should really be going out with a dunce like him?" Sasuke asked as he poked Naruto in the forehead, just like Itachi would do to him. Naruto only pouted and looked at Sasuke, and Sakura couldn't help but laugh. It felt a lot like when they were younger, when all of them would spend nearly every waking hour together.

Then Sasuke's taunt towards Naruto hit her. "Wait, hero's daughter?" Sakura asked, looking just as confused as she sounded.

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke lifted a lazy hand and pointed towards the monument while shrugging his shoulders back. "Don't tell me you're even denser than Menma. That's something I didn't think possible."

"Ah! Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, taking up his usual stance when standing off against his rival. Sakura ignored them both as she stared at the rock carving of her father, and the reality of what this meant sank in. In this world, her dad was the Yondaime. If he went the same way as the real Fourth Hokage, then that must mean her mom was gone as well. She took this surprisingly well for such traumatic news. After all, it wasn't really her world anyway.

Sasuke laughed his usual condescending tone before saying farewell. "Menma. Sakura." And in an instant he was gone, as fast on his feet as ever.

Sensing they were alone again, Naruto turned a bright shade of pink as he slid towards Sakura. Smiling mischievously, he nudged her with his elbow. "Eh, Sakura-chan! We're on a date, remember? You said so yourself, and now even Sasuke too!"

Turning from the statues, she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at Naruto. Trying her hardest to sound annoyed and not excited she said "Oh? You call this a date and you still haven't taken me to dinner?" Naruto was beaming like an excited puppy, bouncing up and down on his heels. He could see the joy behind her eyes and Sakura knew it too, so she closed them and looked away.

"Don't worry, Sakura! I'm wayyy ahead of ya'!" Undeterred as he yelled this he grabbed her by the wrist and began his descent down the mountain, albeit leading her in a much more gentle fashion than she had done to him earlier.

"And it'd better be something other than _ramen_!" Sakura shouted as he led her along, disgusted at thought of being forced into Ichiraku again. Looking depressed all of a sudden, he stopped and turned around almost as if he wanted to convince her otherwise. Which didn't work, naturally, and he grudgingly agreed. As soon as his back was to her again Sakura allowed herself to smile, finding it almost adorable how worked up Naruto could get. She really did enjoy teasing him it seemed, this she came to realize as he led her to a familiar barbeque where Choji and Shikamaru sat laughing together in their usual corner. Not just to tease him for the sake of hurting his feelings, it seemed, but because she found that he was kinda cute almost. At least, when he would blush and pout like a puppy denied a treat. Sakura found that this made her feel strangely powerful when she had Naruto wrapped around her finger like this. Throughout the night, Sakura continued to tease Naruto about his mannerisms too; From the way he sat to the way he ate. If they were gonna go on a date together, she was determined to make a proper man out of him while there.

When it came time to pay the bill, she half expected Naruto to have forgotten his wallet. Thankfully, he pulled out a wad of cash and left a hearty tip to the waitress. She smiled unconsciously, happy to see how kind Naruto was to even complete strangers. When he turned to see her staring affectionately at him, Naruto immediately looked away. She wasn't sure who was more embarrassed by the exchange, but was almost certain that Choji was eyeing the pair from around the corner. What gave it away was his face as he whipped his head around the corner, fast enough to hit Shikamaru across the table with his hair. For a second she worried about Hinata and having to deal with her again (a strange thought that was hard to think). None of that mattered, however, when she looked up to see Naruto offering a hand to help her up. She expected him to let go of her hand once she was on her feet, but he didn't. She thought about pulling her hand away and was even about to do so, until she caught herself making eye contact with Choji. He was smiling, happy to see the couple together, and she found herself smiling too. Why should she pull her hand away?

Sakura had never stayed out this late before. Her mother would have killed her for anything past 9 and here it was, 11 o clock at night. So far there hadn't been any search parties razing the city looking for her, so Sakura thought to herself _Maybe I can enjoy a little more time with this idiot instead of going home. _She was sure to slide a small, affectionate glance towards the taller figure. However, nature had other plans. The rain clouds that had been moving in finally took hold and let loose a torrential downpour that suddenly engulfed all of Konoha.

"Ack, are you kidding me? I hate the rain!" Sakura blurted out as the icy water hit her skin. As she raised her hands above her head, she felt a soft thread envelop her. Looking over she saw that Naruto had quickly removed his jacket and thrown it on top of her head.

"Well, it's not much of an umbrella, but I hope you don't mind Sakura. I thought it might help." Whatever confidence Naruto had when he took his jacket off was quickly lost when he met Sakura's bright green eyes. She blushed again, but this time wasn't the one to look away as Naruto lost his composure and threw his eyes to the ground. She smiled and let out a laugh as she started running through the rain, with Naruto trailing close behind her.

Things didn't get awkward until they had reached Sakura's front door. In all reality, this had been a serious date. The first between Naruto and Sakura and their first in general. Neither of them knew what to do now that it was ending.

"So, uh.. Heh." Naruto laughed nervously. He was rubbing the back of his head while Sakura played with her fingers behind her back. Naruto's jacket was still draped around her shoulders. Sakura began tapping her toes on the ground behind her and looked away from Naruto, trying to hide the fact that she was blushing profusely. She would never admit it, but deep down she wanted to end tonight with a kiss from Naruto. It was the weirdest feeling, how her annoying, idiotic teammate could make her feel so flustered. She didn't understand it, and she didn't understand when she had started thinking like this. _God, I feel like such a little girl right now._

Naruto started growing bolder once he realized she was even more nervous than he was. He had always dreamed of taking Sakura on a real date, and now he was alone with her in front of her house for real. He had talked with Jiraiya before about girls and dates but he had never really listened. In truth, it was always just Jiraiya trying to force unwanted knowledge on to Naruto. Now he really wished he had listened to the pervy sage but, on the other hand… maybe he didn't need to. Naruto felt a burning in his gut, unlike anything he'd felt before. One that felt fuzzy and warm as it slowly wound its way through his veins until it had encompassed his entire body. Almost on instinct, his legs started moving on their own taking one, two, three steps toward Sakura. He tugged on his jacket, bringing it closer around her. She looked up slowly, unable to force her most basic instincts down. Sakura had brought her hands in front of her and held them in front of her chest, fighting the urge to place on Naruto's. A fiery tension began to burn between them at his touch, blotting out the cold night air and bringing all attention down to her. She looked him up and down, her eyes slowing at his lips before moving to meet his own. Instead of making eye contact however, she instead found him looking at her forehead with narrow eyes.

_ I don't understand why she used to be so self-conscious about her forehead, or why Ino had to always make fun of her. _Naruto thought. It hurt to think that she of all people would be made fun of. _I dunno what it is, but I just find it so damn cute is all. _As he thought this, he raised his hand slowly. She looked at his fingers, which were nicely trimmed and cleaned, and tensed as he ran them through her hair and traced his thumb across her brow.

_ My forehead. My forehead is huge! _Sakura suddenly found herself feeling as insecure as she did years ago at Naruto's touch, and all her thoughts of affection quickly switch to anxiety and self inhibitions. With Naruto so close staring down at her, she was sure that a comment about her billboard brow was about to come forth. She looked away quickly as her face burned brighter than ever, and her thoughts turned to her dad. _Oh no... I can't let my dad come out and see me so close to a boy this late at night, especially not with Naruto! _

She turned her back to Naruto, leaving him hopelessly disappointed while she stammered out an anxious "Th-thanks for the dinner, Naremna- Memnato- NARUTO!" She screamed out. _Oh my God. I sound like an idiot. _At this utter embarrassment she opened the door and ran inside as fast as her feet would carry her, slamming it behind her. Leaning her back against the door, she tried to catch her breath. She closed her eyes and could almost swear she could see Naruto's pouty face as he turned and walked home, whispering quietly to himself. "Goodnight, Sakura-chan." She opened her eyes and turned them towards the photo on the wall, the same one commemorating her promotion to Chunin. Slowly coming to the realization that she was alone in the picture, she remembered that there was absolutely no chance of her dad catching her outside with anyone at all. Coming back to her senses she remembered that this was Naruto, her teammate, the kindest person in the leaf. He would never insult her forehead or anything about her body. Slapping herself hard on the forehead, she slid to the ground and yelled out "Idiot!".

She sat for a moment, realizing how cold it was inside her dark home. She pulled Naruto's jacket tighter around her without thinking- "Ah! Naruto's jacket..." She mumbled out loud. In all her bluster, she had forgotten to give it back for him to take home.

** Author's Note: **Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. I'll try to post the next chapter as soon as I can, what with school and work and inspiration to write and all. Please, leave a review and let me know what you think! I'm sure there are ways for me to keep improving and I'll only get there faster with your help.


	2. Chapter 2

** A Mark From Marc: **Alright, so from this point on I'm really gonna start deviating from the original plot. The core of the plot will still be the same, but the majority of the outer details are just gonna happen differently.

_Another Disclaimer: The characters and locations still aren't mine. They're still property of Masashi Kishimoto, and I'm still just a humble fan._

**_Chapter 2:_**

_ Knock knock knock._

A pause. Sakura was just waking up and could barely even register the morning sun phasing through the curtains, let alone the silhouette impatiently knocking on her window.

_Knock knock knock knock knock._

"Sakura! Sakura, open up!"

Sakura bolted upright from her bed. She recognized that voice and couldn't fathom why he might be outside her window. "Sasuke!" She fell into a panic. Even though she knew he couldn't see her, she couldn't help but feel humiliated by the fact that she was only in her underwear. She rushed to throw on a robe and slid open the glass doors to her balcony, hiding shyly behind the beige curtains.

"Hey Sasuke, what's up?" She asked meekly. He still had as intense a stare as ever, it only felt much less cold now. He held up Naruto's jacket roughly which caused her to remember the night before and leaving his jacket outside to dry.

"Is Menma here?" He asked, sounding surprisingly aggravated at the thought.

"W-what? No, of course he isn't here!" Sakura stammered out, feeling embarrassed at the thought. "Why would you ask that?"

Sasuke let out a sigh of relief as his body and gaze eased up. She hadn't noticed how tense he was. "Well, it's just strange to find his clothes hanging right outside your bedroom, is all." Sakura gasped at the statement and turned a bright shade of pink. It had never occurred to her what kind of implications she was making by hanging Naruto's clothes right outside her bedroom door.

"Anyway," he continued. "I'm here to tell you that Lady Tsunade has summoned you. She's expecting you as of about an hour ago."

_Ah geez. _Sakura thought to herself as she sighed heavily. _She's just as demanding as ever, even in this world._

Sasuke stopped to stare at her with a concerned look in his eyes. "You know, I could walk you there if you want." Sasuke said with a tilt of his head. "You seem like you could use the company."

She blushed and looked away. "Well, I might not mind it so much. Wait for me downstairs while I go and get changed!" She smiled at him and closed the door, watching as his silhouette quickly disappeared off the balcony. Sakura put on her usual black shorts and red shirt and skirt, tying her headband on top of her head. Acknowledging the butterflies in her stomach, she stopped in front of a mirror to make sure she looked presentable for Sasuke before running downstairs to greet him. She locked the door behind her and found him waiting in the street with his hand blocking the sun from his eyes.

"You all set?" He asked, looking out the side of his eyes at her. She nodded in response and they began their walk out into the street. The morning air was crisp and cool, not quite winter yet but not as warm as fall. Sasuke was in the same attire as the night before and kept his hands deep inside his pants pockets. Without realizing, Sakura was staring unseemingly straight at Sasuke.

_ Sasuke... No, not Sasuke. But you sure do look a lot like him. _She thought to herself. Her staring didn't go unnoticed however, and Sasuke was clearly bothered by it.

"Is something the matter?" He asked skeptically with a raised eyebrow.

Knocked out of her trance, Sakura replied hastily with "No, it's nothing!" Sasuke was unconvinced, although.

"Come on, spill it." He said, pulling one hand out of his pocket and holding it out with his palm up. "I know something is up."

Blushing, Sakura stayed firm to her act. "Nothing's wrong, I'm telling you!" She said with a tone of anger. Sasuke held his hand up almost as if preparing to shield himself from a hit. She eased up. "I'm really okay, I promise."

Staring for a moment before answering, Sasuke replied with a calm "Of course." before dropping the subject. They walked in idle banter and small talk for a while as the world pressed on right by them. Sakura found herself being forced to remember things that she never experienced, and she was truly coming to terms with the fact that this Sasuke never left the village at all. In fact, he seemed like he was an entirely new person. When they were young he was only ever smiling when he was with Naruto it seemed like. And that was just when he was showing off how much better he was than him. Naturally, boys are all stupid like that. But this Sasuke, he seemed to smile at just about everything. Strangers, children, teammates, and even birds that would fly too close to him. It was almost contagious seeing how happy he was, and Sakura caught herself smiling right back at him when he would smile at her.

Part of her felt conflicted. She remembered Naruto and how she felt last night on her porch, but she was also remembering her feelings as a child. Her love for Sasuke had felt so far away and as if it had been thinning over the past few years, but now, it was suddenly tangible. It almost felt as if someone had been stretching out a rubber band in preparation to fling it far away but it had snapped back and hit her on the hand. Her feelings came rushing back so fast they almost felt as if they stung. Before she could delve into this romanticizing of the past, a certain somebody came up and knocked her right back into focus.

"Sasuke." A voice cried out from a distance. Sakura could tell they were coming from behind Sasuke but she couldn't recognize the voice. Sasuke moved to the side as he turned around and the face that greeted her froze her in place.

"Itachi..." Sakura was paralyzed. In truth, there had never been a man she was more afraid of than she was afraid of Itachi. A powerful genius unrivaled by anyone she knew, and the biggest monster to ever come from the Hidden Leaf... But, wait. If Sasuke was different, then surely Itachi would be too? Wouldn't he?

"Bro?" Sasuke asked, sounding completely relaxed. Sakura calmed down but could still feel her body frozen in tension. Itachi looked directly at her and his stared nearly threatened to shatter her.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan." Itachi said with a small smile and bow before turning back to Sasuke. "You haven't forgotten your errands for mom, have you?" Itachi asked with a suspicious expression.

"Tch. I don't need you to remind me, ya' know." Sasuke said in an annoyed tone, with a stance that looked equally annoyed. "I was just gonna walk Sakura-" He was interrupted.

Itachi held up one hand to silence his brother. "Sasuke. You know you're not supposed to put mother's requests aside, no matter what. Now come on, she's been waiting long enough." Itachi had a stern look on his face, but not a mean one. It was almost funny seeing Sasuke get scolded like this, he took on a completely different tone and expression.

Turning around obviously defeated, Sasuke muttered out "Sorry I couldn't walk you all the way." He reached behind his back and pulled something in front of him. "Feel better, I'll see you later." Looking down, Sakura saw a brilliant red rose in Sasuke's hand. It wasn't long before she was even redder. As soon as she pulled it away from him, Sasuke was gone. She looked to Itachi to only receive a slight nod in place of a goodbye, and he was gone as well.

She played with the rose in between her fingers for the rest of her time outside. Each thorn had been carefully removed so that the stem of the flower was smooth and delicate. When she got to the Hokage's mansion she suddenly realized she had nowhere to put the flower and that she was even slightly embarrassed to be carrying it around.

_ What if Naruto sees me with this flower? What would I tell him then? _She imagined his regular, goofy smile as he walked up to her, only to immediately disappear once he noticed the rose. In her mind, as his smile broke so did her heart. She stood in the doorway of the mansion and thought to herself about what she was really feeling. Inside, she knew that she loved Sasuke. She always had, and she always will. But this is a dream, and the Sasuke she loves is far away. He may never even come home. Naruto was real though, and he was here with her. She may love Sasuke, but she loves Naruto too. Sasuke made his choice when he walked away, so Sakura knew that she had to make a choice as well.

And she did. As she dropped the rose in the dirt she walked through the front gates, ready to meet with Tsunade and find Naruto afterwards as she snapped the doors closed behind her.

**Author's Note: **Sorry I took so long to update. I hope I still have people reading this, and to whoever it is I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it! This is my first time trying to write romance/angsty type things, and I'm trying to do it justice. Did you catch the symbolism with the rose and the doors? I even threw in a little reference to the rubber band at the end with the way the doors "snapped closed". Let me know what you think in the review section! I'll be continuing work on chapter 3 right away!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Mark: **Dun dun dun... chapter 3, out about 5 months faster than chapter 2! Last chapter was heavily Sakura-centric, this chapter I'm gonna move back with Naruto right after leaving Sakura's home and I'll bring them together again towards the end. Hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 3:**

"God, I'm so stupid!" Naruto screamed to himself. The only response he got was his voice echoing down the empty road. The rain was coming down even harder now, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He found himself fixated on the way Sakura looked right outside her door, the way her cheeks had been tinted so soft a pink, her jade eyes looking softly into him. His stomach felt hot and twisted again as he remembered the sweet aroma that seemed to glide off her hair-

"IDIOT!" Naruto screamed again, this time his foot found a victim in the form of a tree trunk. He stopped and slammed his head against the tree, leaving his arms resting above him. _How could you mess up such a perfect moment? _He thought angrily to himself. His stomach twisted and churned a much more violent way as he remembered the way her eyes shifted from adoration to fear in under an instant.

"What did I even do wrong..." His question drifted on the air almost like a statement. Naruto had calmed down now and simply felt more dejected and humiliated more than anything else. The rain was softer now, leaving a faint rhythm upon the concrete and streaming currents. With one last look back to Sakura's home, he saw her through the light of her upstairs window. Her body was a silhouette as she walked onto her covered balcony. All of a sudden Naruto's teenage hormones came rushing back into his veins as he noticed how much of a woman Sakura looked like. With nothing else to distract him he could easily see the outline of her figure and the way that she had been subtly filling out over the years. It may not have been the case, but it suddenly felt like the cold rain was evaporating against Naruto's skin. He watched her with a softer expression as she placed a jacket over a chair and went back inside, closing the curtains and blocking Naruto's view. He looked down at himself and realized he didn't bring his jacket back with him and that it was, surprisingly, very cold outside. With a shiver and a tightening of his arms around his stomach, Naruto turned to keep walking through the night. He had to get home before he got sick.

_If anything was the same, it was surely this. _Naruto thought to himself as he walked up the stairs to his apartment. The railings and walls were the same colors, the same birds had perched their nests in the same corners, and even the same ants trailed across the stairs, ever working despite the hours. _I wonder what kind of ninja an ant would make. _Naruto mused. _They work so hard at everything they do, I bet they'd be a lot like Lee. Wait, did I just compare Lee to an ant? Huh. Not the weirdest thing I've thought at least._

Standing in front of his apartment door, Naruto fumbled for his keys only to realize that he had lost them at some point. Unfazed, he bent over and reached under the mat to grab his spare to find that it wasn't there. "Okay, that's weird." He said with concern etching his voice. As cold and rainy as it was, Naruto definitely didn't want to be locked outside. "Maybe I left it unlocked?" Naruto said aloud with a little bit of hope. He reached out and turned the doorknob, and miraculously it turned all the way and opened the door. Breathing a sigh of relief and letting out a smile he stepped quickly into the warmth-

"AHH! Who the hell are you?!" A woman shrieked in terror. Naruto was thrown completely aback and even let out his own shriek in response. A middle aged woman in nothing but a towel stood in front of him, rage quickly seething out her eyes. "Don't just stand there, get out!" She bellowed at him.

"Get out? What do you mean?! This is my home!" Naruto yelled back at her.

"YOUR home? I've lived here my entire life, now get! Get get get!" She was becoming angrier and more bold with each shout.

"Well where am I supposed to go then if I can't come here?!" Naruto asked, feeling utterly desperate to stay inside.

"I! Don't! Care! GET OUT!" At this the woman kicked Naruto in his shin and forcefully pushed him through the door way, knocking him flat on his back.

Reeling from the pain he grasped his shin and shouted back at a closed door, "If this is some kinda joke, it isn't funny ya' know!"

In an instant the door had flung itself open again and miscellaneous objects were flying out at Naruto as if they were gaining power from the horrendous scream of "SHUT UUUUP!"

Getting up and running from the barrage of household objects, Naruto shielded himself as he leaped over the railing and across different rooftops, grumbling the entire way.

"Ridiculous.. Stupid old lady, kicking me outta my own home.. Why'd she have to kick me? Sheesh.." Naruto was sitting in the same playground he had been with Sakura in earlier that day. His mood was foul and his temper fragile, it must have been close to 1 am and he didn't even know where to go so he could sleep.

"Wait a second, that's it! I can go to the Hokage's mansion!" Leaping up from the swing he dashed out of the park and down the roadway. The rain had softened to a drizzle, but the wind felt piercing and cruel. Naruto wanted anything other than to be outside any longer.

The mansion was mostly dark and quiet. A few shinobi were up guarding the place, but they were no issue to get past. No one really expected an intruder in the mansion and the night guards attitude showed that. The single soldier in the front gate had fallen asleep against it, and Naruto simply walked right past him. Izumo and Kotetsu were here as usual, and they were upstairs playing cards again, as usual. The Anbu weren't here as they were busy guarding Tsunade, and Shizune was off doing whatever it is that Shizune does. Naruto quickly and quietly raced his way to the Hokage's office where he shut the door behind him. Turning to look into the office, he saw that it was very neatly kept. Each and every windowsill was dust free, the carpets were even and crisp and her desk was tidy and organized with all her papers in neat piles. Moonlight was the only thing shining through the window, and Naruto could hear the heater going in full. Granny Tsunade obviously didn't like coming to a cold office, and Naruto was perfectly okay with that. Finding an empty corner to sleep in, Naruto cozied himself into a ball and lay there until sleep drifted over him.

The next morning came slowly and hazily, with voices drifting unrecognized in the air. Sunlight permeated through Naruto's eyelids as it would a thickly covered forest and as he stiffly forced himself to sit up, he noticed Tsunade's coat fall off of his shoulders. It seemed that while he was sleeping Tsunade found him in his corner, and rather than kick him out of the office she simply put her coat over him like a blanket and worked as quietly as she could for the morning.

"Ah, you're awake!" Tsunade's voice burst through his ears. "Did you sleep well?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, yeah I slept... just fine." Naruto groggily responded as he tried to loosen his shoulder muscles. He had a nasty crick in his neck from sleeping on the floor but didn't want Tsunade to notice. Looking to his left he noticed Shizune standing there, arms filled with paperwork. Some things never changed it seemed.

"What are you doing in here, Menma? Why'd you break in?" Shizune asked. She sounded angry and almost mean in her tone, completely different from the sisterly Shizune that Naruto was used to.

Unwilling to relay what exactly had happened last night, Naruto spit out only a partial truth in defense. "I got locked out of my house, alright." He said with a tilt of his head and pout of his lip.

"Shizune, leave him be." Tsunade commanded. "Menma, I'm just glad you were able to get inside out of the rain. However, I need to have a serious talk with my guard it seems." She took a stern look to her eyes and massaged her temple with her fingers. She obviously wasn't thrilled at how easy it was to break into her office.

With a nervous laugh and throwing one arm over his shoulder, Naruto remarked "Heh, I haven't gotten anyone in trouble have I?"

Completely ignoring his question, Tsunade turned around with her own for Naruto. "How's your shoulder? It must be tense after sleeping on the floor." She was already standing up to come over to Naruto before he could even answer. The slightest mis-movement as he threw his arm over his head gave him away, the medical expert Tsunade could see even the slightest tells that someone was in pain. Her gaze was a strong and motherly one that Naruto could never refuse, so he obediently pulled himself to Tsunade's chair. He sat down on the floor in front of her with his back to her, and as she began healing his shoulder and neck Shizune kept running reports for the morning. It was already 11 am and Naruto had managed to sleep through everyone that had come through there.

"And Sakura is on her way here now, correct?" Tsunade asked with a tone that would only receive a yes. Naruto's ears perked up at the mention of her name and he began burning bright red again at the thought of the previous night. Tsunade noticed the shift in Naruto's body, but did nothing more than glance down at him.

"Yes, Lady Tsunade. Sasuke went to retrieve her almost thirty minutes ago. She should be here any minute." Shizune said flatly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must make these deliveries before noon. I'll be back at 1 o clock to check on your progress with these reports, Lady Tsunade." With a scoff and scowl from Tsunade, Shizune bowed and excused herself through the doors. When she was sure that Shizune was clear out of ear shot, Tsunade began to address Naruto.

"Now, I hope you don't think I'm a fool." Tsunade said to Naruto almost with a hint of a dare on her voice. Naruto, thankfully, was able to catch her tone.

"Of course not, Granny." He said meekly.

"So why don't you tell me what really happened last night? A ninja like you? Unable to get into his own home?" She asked with a remarkable amount of disbelief. Naruto shrugged his head down and tried to turn away from Tsunade, which earned him a hard flick on the back of the head. It quickly reminded him of the monstrous strength that Tsunade possessed. Thinking quick on his feet, he came up with a surprisingly believable lie.

"Sakura and I got into a fight last night." He muttered out. With a tone of real concern, Tsunade softened up immediately.

"What happened?" She asked him.

"I don't really want to talk about it, is all. Sorry for lying to you Granny." Naruto said, trying to sound as sad as he could.

"Well, I suppose I won't force it out of you. Young love can be a painful thing at times." At this she patted him to stand up, which he did. It was the most that Naruto could do not to let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly, Tsunade's eyes darted to the door. "Come in, Sakura." She stated loudly.

The door swung wide open and Sakura walked in with a confident step. She stopped, taken aback by Naruto standing behind Tsunade's desk wearing Tsunade's jacket.

"Naruto? Well that's... an interesting look for you." She said, giggling softly. Her face was brimming with affection towards the blond, and she had decided that she quite liked him in green.

Completely embarrassed, Naruto burned a bright red and tore off her jacket before throwing it at Tsunade. Caught off guard the jacket covered Tsunade's face and nearly sent her toppling backwards. In retaliation, she let out a loud cry and kicked Naruto in the gut, knocking him straight to his knees. Sakura flinched in pain for Naruto while Tsunade cursed under her breath about "Never giving her jacket to Menma again." Meanwhile, Naruto was trying his hardest to force out on apology on empty breaths.

Letting out a large sigh of exhaustion, Tsunade returned her attention to Sakura. "Sakura, I have an important mission for you today." Sakura had fixed her undivided attention on Tsunade and stood tall and straight. "Menma, you listen up too because I want you go to on this mission with her." Naruto was just sitting up and quickly stood to his feet at his mention. It was strange getting used to being called 'Menma'. "It's fortunate you were already here in the office, Menma. It's always the most difficult to find you around the village." Normally he would have let out a smart retort, but he was still finding it difficult to breathe, let alone speak.

"Gai, Kakashi, Minato, and Kushina-" Naruto abruptly interruped Tsunade as soon as she began speaking.

"Wait hold on a second, did you say Minato and Kushina? As in my parents Minato and Kushina?" Naruto asked in total disbelief.

Cocking one eyebrow up high and suspicion quickly gathering in her, Tsunade answered. "Yes... Of course I do. Menma why are you acting so shocked all of a sudden?" Tsunade asked. Quick to react, Sakura elbowed Naruto in the side to bring him back to his senses. Looking back from Sakura to Tsunade, he calmed himself down.

"No reason, sorry." Tsunade glared heavily at Naruto who only turned his head to the side. Letting out a long sigh, Tsunade continued.

"Gai, Kakashi, Minato, and Kushina are returning from a mission today. I will go into more depth later once you're all together, but for now be satisfied when I say I need you all to gather an incredibly important item for me. Sakura, you're my best medic I have available. I want you go with them and be on stand-by for the duration of the mission. Menma, you work well with everyone on this team and your Sage abilities will be invaluable, I want you to go as support. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" They both stated enthusiastically.

"You're not going to get started without us, are you?" A familiar voice came from behind them both. Naruto's body froze in disbelief as he slowly turned to see his mother and father standing in the doorway, both very much alive. Unable to speak, his face showed a mixture of anger and great depression at the sight. Sakura had never seen them in person before, but she knew enough to understand that these were Naruto's parents. She looked to Naruto out of worry and instantly felt a surge of pain flow through her at the sight of his expression.

This moment didn't last long however, as Kushina lunged forward and struck Naruto over the head. "We've been gone for three days and you can't even say a single 'hello' to us now?" She asked angrily.

Minato stepped in quickly to subside his wife's anger. "Menma, it's good to see you again. And you as well, Lady Sakura." Needless to say, Sakura was definitely not accustomed to the image of the Fourth Hokage bowing down to her.

"Uh, it's, great to see you too Mr. Uzumaki!" She stammered out. Minato looked at her with a strange look, and simply corrected her.

"Namikaze is my name." He said in a gentle tone. Sakura felt like a fool for not remembering that his name was different than Naruto's.

"Right. Now, on to business. Minato I'm expecting you to relay this to Gai and Kakashi once they return." Tsunade said expectantly, which Minato affirmed to her immediately. "As you all know, The Masked Man has been a major thorn in our side for years now." Naruto and Sakura immediately looked to each other.

_ "The Masked Man..." _Sakura whispered to Naruto.

"_He must be Madara, he has to be." _Naruto replied just as quietly.

"_Just like you have a different name here, Naruto, maybe Madara does too." _Naruto nodded in agreement as they turned back to listen to Tsunade. It wasn't until now that Naruto realized he and Sakura were intimately close to each other while whispering. She didn't back away, however, so neither did he.

"He's been bold in his thefts of Kekkei Genkai and secret Clan Techniques, but never did we imagine that he would go after a tailed beast." Tsunade finished her statement with an anxious tone, upset at the turn of events.

"The Two-Tails Jinchurriki of The Hidden Cloud." Minato said solemnly, with a nod in response from Tsunade.

"The Raikage is furious." Tsunade continued. "And the other Kages are scared, myself included." As she said this she looked towards Naruto, then back to Minato. "We absolutely must stop him before he captures any other Tailed Beasts."

"Right!" Everyone shouted in agreement. Tailed Beasts, as you know, are the most powerful creatures in the world. For someone to be collecting them? Truly, nothing could be more frightening.

"As you all know, Jiraiya set out to attempt and fulfill his prophecy from the Great Toad Sage." Tsunade explained to the group.

"Prophecy? What did this prophecy say?" Minato asked. It was clear that he had never heard of this prophecy before now.

"The prophecy said that The Masked Man can only be defeated by whoever who holds The Red Moon Scroll." She held up her hand to silence any interruptions. "The Red Moon Scroll is a legendary artifact left behind by an ancient civilization, said to be able to nullify any ninjutsu and seal any chakra. Jiraiya managed to succeed in retrieving the scroll, but his wounds were too severe. He never made it home. Just this morning we managed to decipher the coded message he sent us, and we've learned that he was able to hide the Scroll before his passing." At this everyone but Naruto perked up, they had all assumed Jiraiya's mission to have failed.

"So you want us to go and bring the Scroll back home to the Leaf?" Kushina asked.

"Exactly. Here," Tsunade said as she held out a map to Kushina. "Follow the directions on this map and they'll take you to exactly where the Scroll is hidden. But be careful, I've known Jiraiya for a very long time and I'm sure he's laid incredibly dangerous traps in order to protect it. Minato, you and Menma were both Jiraiya's students. If anyone can do this successfully, it's you. I'm counting on you."

"Right. We'll get it done, Lady Hokage." Minato said in his usual courteous tone as he bowed in respect to Tsunade. Naruto on the other hand didn't say a word; he only looked down at the floor with a furious expression on his face as Sakura tenderly reached up to touch his arm. Tsunade misread the tension as something between the two and quickly dismissed them both, not eager to deal with teenage drama.

Naruto threw the front gates of the mansion open and stormed his way down the road. Sakura hurried to catch up with him and felt herself riddled with anxiety. She rarely saw Naruto upset at all, and to see him so angry was the first time in her life. He slowed to a regular walk but remained tense. She walked beside him, not taking her eyes off him for a moment as if she was waiting for him to reach out to her. But he didn't. Minutes passed into minutes as the silence stayed strong. Sakura could feel Naruto grow more and more tense with every passing moment, and she knew that she should say something to try and calm him down, she just had no idea what to say. She had never been in this kind of situation before and she wasn't even sure of what Naruto was feeling. Looking up at him, she saw his face grow hotter and angrier. But still, he remained silent. Sakura couldn't let him fume to himself any longer, she had to say something.

"That was a shock." Sakura said softly. Naruto stopped walking. She looked from the ground up his figure just to see he was as tense as he was before. She continued on, hoping that she would say something right. "I know this world is different, but I never expected your parents to be-" Naruto yelled out in anger, punching the nearest concrete wall causing Sakura to flinch back.

"Damn that Madara! He's gone too far this time, making these fakes..." Naruto's voice drifted off slowly. Sakura's gut tightened. She had wanted to make him feel better, to feel more at ease, but it only seemed like she upset him more. His posture lowered against the wall as Naruto began to feel more and more dejected at the thought of these fake parents. His body ached and his heart turned to glass. The pain of being alone, the pain of learning how his parents died, the pain of being forced to see his dream when he knows it isn't real, they clashed inside him all at once. It was overwhelming and seemed to physically weigh him down.

Sakura walked up slowly behind him. She still had no words to give him, but if she knew anything at all as a medic it was that sometimes all you need is a physical touch. She reached out and gently placed her hands on Naruto's back, slowly sliding them up his shoulders. Her touch was like the ignition of a roaring fire. Warmth flooded through Naruto's body as his muscles relaxed and he pulled himself up straight. Turning around, he grabbed Sakura's hands and looked her straight in the eyes. The sudden and swift change in his demeanor threw Sakura aback.

"We need to get the Red Moon Scroll!" Naruto shouted with a new enthusiasm. He held her hands firmly inbetween his own as he moved closer to Sakura. "We'll do it quickly, and then we'll take down Madara and we'll finally get the hell out of this world!" He was squeezing her hands tightly now, only inches away from Sakuras face. She could feel her cheeks blushing over and her tongue suddenly felt fat and heavy.

"Mm, right! Let's do this, Naruto." Sakura said softly. She felt as confident as Naruto looked, yet she exhibited a much calmer appearance. Her eyes had turned into a soft and doting look as her lips took a soft and subtle curve. Her cheeks were a bright pink to rival her hair as she and Naruto shared an intimate, yet ultimately short moment together.

As daft as Naruto is, he wasn't oblivious to what was happening. Lacking the confidence he had the previous night, however, he quickly derailed the moment with a heavy tint in his cheeks. "And, uh, and we should get started right away!" He said as he put Sakura's hands down. For the first time in this world, Sakura pouted. Naruto chose not to see that.

"The Konoha library, it's sure to have something there." Naruto said, brimming with confidence and purpose. "Let's go!" As he turned to walk away, he tried to let go of Sakura's hands. She was absolutely not having that, however, and forcefully interlocked her fingers into his. They walked holding hands like this the entire way to the library.

**Another Note: **So what'd y'all think? Lol I really spent a lot of time writing these last couple of days, I want to try and make up for lost time to everyone this weekend and I'm mostly working nights, so I have a lot of time to sleep in for the mornings. I hope you enjoyed reading this, I think this is my favorite chapter so far. Please, review! I'll be working on chapter 4 either tomorrow when I wake up, or Sunday after I get out of work.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Two things. 1) Naruto isn't good at library research. 2) Naruto and Sakura spend a lot of time together this chapter. Enjoy!

**Chapter 4:**

"Naruto... Naruto, wake up." Sakura said quietly across the table. She was rather annoyed at the blond since it was his idea to come to the library and he was the one to fall asleep.

"Naruto!" She said louder and more sternly, giving him a solid kick under the table.

"AH!" Naruto jumped up from his seat, banging his knees on the bottom of the hardwood table they were working on and knocking a book to the floor.

"Sh!" A librarian's voice echoed across the aisles and Sakura meekly apologized to her before returning her attention to Naruto.

"Sheesh, Naruto. You spend so much time outside training yet you can't even spend a few hours in the library?" Sakura's face had scrunched together in an accusing pout as she noticed the drool covering the poor book who was unfortunate enough to be used as a pillow.

"This isn't easy, ya' know." Naruto barked out in defense. "It's just... It's so many words, agh, I hate it! I'd rather be doing anything else than this!"

"Naruto this was your idea! Besides, you haven't even done that much reading." Sakura stated blandly.

"Eh? What do you mean 'Not much reading'?" Naruto asked comically. "There's ten books right..." His sentence trailed off abruptly. Certainly, there were ten books there earlier, but that was before he fell asleep. In the time that he had passed out Sakura had already tripled the amount of books they (she) had gone through.

"This is light reading compared to what I went through with Tsunade." Sakura said this almost as if she was crushed by the memory. Naruto grimaced at the thought of having to read so many books. "Didn't you have to read up on a lot of materials while you were off training with Jiraiya?" She asked inquisitively.

"Nah," Naruto replied. "My training was mostly physical. The only reading I had to do was out of scrolls when trying to learn new Jutsu."

Sakura laughed quickly to herself. _I should've known that out of the Sannin, Jiraiya would be the one to ignore his readings. _"You know, if you want to be Hokage you'd better get used to reading." Sakura teased Naruto, knowing that he wouldn't like this reminder.

Naruto let out an over exaggerated groan and laid his head back on the table. "Don't remind me, please." Sakura laughed at the blond. It was cute when he was like this, really. He had a true boyish charm that no one else could compare to.

In a flash his head was back up. "I know! Sakura, you love reading and stuff like that right?" Before he could even finish his thought he received another swift kick to his legs. He managed to stifle his reaction this time, at least.

"Don't even think about it." Sakura said sternly, crossing her arms and waving her hand in front of her face. "I have my own dreams to follow, and being your desk assistant isn't very high up on that list."

"Not very high, but it is on the li-i-ist." Naruto said with a mischievous smile. Sakura wanted to get mad, and she did her best to appear that way, but even her raised eyebrow and short response "The list just got shorter." couldn't cover up the smile that permeated her lips.

Deciding to change the subject, Sakura stood up with an armful of books. "Anyways, it's getting late." Naruto looked out the window to see that the bright midday sun had fallen far below the horizon, leaving a million stars and a bright, round moon to dominate the blackened sky. "Help me put back these books so we can get something to eat." She said, expecting Naruto to comply as she walked away. The desire to help was never stronger and never more serious than when it was the desire to help Sakura, no matter how meningeal the task was. With a puff of smoke and a handful of shadow clones, the books were gone in an instant.

_Geez, maybe I should learn how to use shadow clones. Those look really useful. _Sakura mused to herself as she turned around to an empty table and a cheekily smiling Naruto. "Come on, Naruto! Your treat for how hard I had to work while you were sleeping." Sakura said with a small pout at the tip of her lips, she knew that Naruto would never be able to say no to her puppy eyes.

Undeterred, Naruto threw out an offer of Ichiraku only to be shot down. They talked and debated on their way out the library until finally settling on a tsukemen bar down the street. In Naruto's mind, this was a victory. Tsukemen was close enough to being ramen and Sakura was just happy with anything that wasn't officially ramen.

With full stomachs and empty wallets, Naruto and Sakura pushed their way through the curtains of the bar back into the empty street. The night air had fallen cold and crisp which caused Naruto to miss his jacket immensely.

"I still have your jacket at home, you know." Sakura said as she pulled her arms tight across her chest, trying to combat the cold. "Would you mind walking me there to get it?" Sakura looked down lower towards the ground, sheepishly raising her eyes towards Naruto who had begun to feel equally as nervous. Looking down through the corner of his eyes at the shorter, pink haired girl, Naruto stammered nervously, "Y-yeah, I'll come with you to get it." Sakura's face began to radiate, and Naruto almost felt warm just standing near to her with the way that she was glowing.

As they began to walk Naruto crossed his arms in much the way Sakura had crossed hers. A brutal wind assaulted the pair as they turned a corner and Sakura jumped on the chance to grab hold of Naruto's arm. If Naruto had been cold before, he was anything but now. The way that Sakura held his arm tightly against her was almost exhilarating. He could smell her supple perfume floating from her hair and the way her skin felt against his was like a friction sparking a fire.

"Well, here we are. Welcome." Sakura awkwardly held out her arms to motion Naruto inside. After she closed the door she found herself sounding a lot like her mom. "Make sure you take your shoes off, don't you dare track any mud inside."

"Right." Naruto said quietly. This was the first time he had ever seen the inside of Sakura's home, and they were completely alone in the dead of night. The clock on the wall read "11:34". Light flooded the entry way as Sakura flipped on the lights and Naruto's shoes made a solid _thunk _as they hit the ground, landing sloppily apart.

The sound of Sakura's footsteps echoed throughout the home as she walked up the stairs and Naruto nervously made his way into the living room. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable, you can sit down on the couch if you'd like." Sakura called down from the other room. "I'm going to change while I'm up here."

"R-right. Thanks, Sakura." Naruto spoke in response. His skin was feeling hot and thick at the thought of Sakura changing. Naruto had a tendency to be a pervert, always trying to sneak peeks into the women's bath houses, and this time he was alone with Sakura while she was in such an exposing situation. This time, however, he found himself much too afraid to even move. He felt as if he was sweating profusely and clumsily stumbled his way to the couch, sitting down upright and stiff in the center. A few moments later, Sakura came back down the stairs. She was wearing a large, oversized pink sweater that went down to her thighs and fluffy pink slippers. She had taken off her headband, allowing her hair to fall freely and unkempt. Naruto's mind was racing as he watched this beauty descend the stairs, holding his jacket in one hand and the railing in the other. He had never seen Sakura look so casual and relaxed and he had never seen her look so adorable either. His heart was threatening to pound it's way through his chest and he felt as if he must have been shining in the light from how much he was sweating.

Changing had been a surprisingly difficult task for Sakura. She felt nervous and self-conscious about how she would look after coming down the stairs, as she had always put some sort of effort into her appearance in front of Naruto. She thought about putting her hair up and wearing her cutest pajamas before she remembered her night before, about how she had been afraid of what Naruto would say about her forehead. She knew that Naruto was the most kind person she knew and he would never say anything rude or demeaning to the way she looked, so she put on some baggy shorts and a loose tank top before throwing her biggest sweater over them, slipped on her slippers, grabbed Naruto's jacket and headed back downstairs. Each step, however, seemed to drill another level of anxiety back into her. Once she was in full view of Naruto she felt as if his looking at her was an intense stare of scrutiny, when in reality Naruto was too in awe to look away. She debated turning around and coming back down in her heaviest winter gear, but in the end decided to stick to her current attire.

Sakura walked gracefully through her living room. She'd done it at least a thousand times and knew every crack on the floor and every corner of furniture that might pose a threat to her toes. She sat down gently next to Naruto with his jacket in her lap, and as soon as she was sitting Naruto shot up to his feet. Sakura looked up at him in surprise, also slightly hurt at his hurry to get away.

"Uhm. I, uh, need to use the bathroom..." He said with a shaking voice.

"Oh, uhm, okay." Sakura said slowly. "Do you want to use the shower? I know you've had a rough time of it the past couple of days, a hot shower would do you some good."

"Oh, you really mean it?" Naruto asked, feeling slightly excited. He hadn't been able to shower since he got to this world and he knew that he was gaining a rather nasty odor. In truth, that was one of the main reasons he felt so afraid of sitting next to Sakura. Sitting in her clean home while she was freshly changed made him more self aware of his smell more than ever, and he was sure that Sakura would notice it too if she hadn't already.

"Yeah, of course." Sakura said with a smile. "I'll pull out some of my dad's clothes that you can wear, and I'll start washing your clothes while you clean up. They must be filthy."

_No way... _Naruto thought to himself. _This is too good to be true. _"Gee, thanks Sakura." Naruto said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with one hand.

"Don't worry, I'm doing us both a favor with this." Sakura teased, a smile still firmly on her lips. Grabbing his hand and easing his tension, she led him swiftly upstairs. She stopped in front of a closed door and motioned him inside. "Here you go, shower's inside. Towels are in the top right cabinets, and I'll be back in just a minute with something for you to change in to. Make sure you have your clothes ready for me to wash!" She demanded as she walked away. Naruto hurriedly closed the door and pressed his back to it. First and foremost, he studied his surroundings. Sakura's bathroom was tinted a light pink, naturally, and held a mirror that covered an entire wall. The counter top was bare and sparkling clean with an exquisite floral finish that flowed into the basin of the sink. The shower curtain completed the floral decorations. It was covered in red roses and dark green vines all on an opaque pink screen. Slowly, Naruto walked away from the door. He looked to his left to the wall of cabinets and opened the top right one, finding the light pink towels folded and tucked away neatly.

_Knock Knock Knock_

Sakura's knocking was hard and consistent. "Naruto, are you ready?" She asked through the closed door.

"Ack! Just one second!" Naruto was surprised and suddenly extremely nervous. He rapidly undressed himself, stopping to stare at the door before he took off his underwear and burned a bright, hot red. He threw his clothes into a pile and wrapped a towel firmly around his waist before picking his clothes up and slamming to a stop in front of the door. He cracked it open to find Sakura standing with her back to the door and clothes folded in her arms.

"Hm? Here, Naruto." She held out her arms as far as they would reach with the clothes resting in her hands. Naruto slowly took them from her, afraid that his hands would shake so hard he would rip the clothes right away. He exchanged them for his dirty clothes, bowed slightly and uttered out a "thank you" and closed the door calmly when he was anything but. On the other side of the door, Sakura grimaced at the sudden nearness of the stench.

Once he had finished scrubbing and lathering himself in the shower, Naruto made sure that every inch of his body was dry. He spent an exceedingly longer time than usual, mostly because he was nervous about how he would look once he was done. Every girl's nightmare came to life in that bathroom as Naruto fought tooth and nail with his hair. The left side was pointing too far up, the right side was too flat, his bangs were curling the wrong way. _Dammit! Everything's wrong! _Naruto thought angrily to himself. _Why won't you just cooperate... God! _In the end, Naruto settled for a seemingly ragged mess when in truth his hair looked no different than normal.

The robe that Sakura gave him was coated in a nostalgic orange. Fall themed, the background was a bright and crisp orange littered with autumn leaves that seemed to be falling in the wind. The black slippers she brought him were soft and plush and surprisingly comfortable. _These are way higher quality than the ones Pervy Sage got me. _Naruto thought. _What a cheap bastard. _Looking back into the mirror to see himself clad in this strange robe, Naruto had one last thought before returning to Sakura downstairs. _Man, Sakura's dad sure was lame._

Naruto came downstairs just as Sakura was coming back in through the patio door. "Finished already?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm, I'm all clean. And stuff." Naruto replied nervously. He recognized the kind gesture of giving him these clothes, but he felt unfathomably uncomfortable wearing her father's robe.

"That's good." Sakura said kindly with a smile. "I just finished hanging your clothes up outside on the patio, they should be dry by tomorrow morning." A lingering silence loomed over them both again at the implications. Naruto's eyes grew wide and Sakura's face began burning with embarrassment. "Well, I mean, n-not that I'm forcing you stay the night, or anything..." She had barely managed to stammer this out over the growing weight of her tongue.

"No, actually, I'd really prefer staying here than going..." His sentence trailed off as his mind recalled the images of these fake parents of his. His gut twisted and tore itself apart at the thought of spending a night with them, the pain of being reminded of what happened to his real parents was more than he could bear.

"Naruto..." Sakura's voice was heavily coated in concern. She watched as Naruto tensed up and seemed to spiritually fall away from her. Once again, she found herself having no idea of what to say to make things right. Time seemed to slow down as her heart sped up, her field of vision blurring and focusing solely on Naruto. Her feet moved on their own accord as she practically ran across the floor. She grabbed the front of Naruto's robe as if she was holding on for dear life, firmly and securely placing her lips against his. She held him there as she took in the softness of his lips, the way they seemed to melt and press against hers. The Earth had stopped spinning and time held everything in place as she slowly separated herself from Naruto, breathing in every breath of him she could take.

Naruto's heart had stopped beating and his skin flushed a bright shade of pink. His body froze from the shock he felt at what just happened, and he didn't know what to do. Sakura kept her grip on Naruto's robes as she drifted her eyes down away from his. Even without making eye contact, Naruto could tell that Sakura was tearing up. As the first tear rolled down her cheek she choked out, "You smell very fruity." Naruto immediately thought back to all the fruity scented shampoos that were laid out as his options in Sakura's shower.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Naruto asked in concern. Motion returned to him as he placed one hand on her waist and the other on her chin, bringing her eyes back to his. She had brought her tears under control but distress still held a tangible hold.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I shouldn't have done that." She said, pushing herself away from him.

Falling instantly from this all-time high, Naruto's heart shattered as it hit the floor. "Waddya' mean you shouldn't have done that?" He asked, not quite understanding.

"I mean, I didn't deserve to do that." She said, turning away from him. Naruto simply stared at her, finding himself to be the one unable to speak this time. "God, look at me. I'm pathetic." She said as she choked back her feelings. "And here I was wanting to be the one to comfort you." Naruto closed his lips tight as he stared at the back of Sakura's head. She turned slightly to look at him from over her shoulder, her eyes had turned red and puffy. Feeling she owed him an explanation, she kept on.

"I'm a horrible person, Naruto." She said with her back still turned to him. "All my life, I've been horrible to you. I've never had a reason for it. I found you annoying back in our Academy days, and I treated you so awful. I've never spent a single night alone in my home until last night, and I can't imagine what it must have been like for you to be alone every day of your life." Naruto was overtaken with a pang of sorrow. He didn't want anyone to ever question the way he had felt when he was alone, and for Sakura to begin to understand it? He couldn't think of anything worse.

A long and painful silence commanded the room as the two stood across from each other. Suddenly and abruptly, Sakura turned on her heel to face Naruto again, this time with tears streaming down her face. "I love you, Naruto." Sakura forced out. "I think I always have. But I've always let what other people think dominate what I thought of you. You were always so kind, and so happy towards me and to everyone I knew. Yet we never included you in anything, we left you alone and we knew it. We even ridiculed you for it, too." Naruto's face had taken a mask of pain as her words began to stab at him like knives.

"I was too proud, or maybe too afraid, to admit that I thought you were kind. That you were someone I would want to talk to. I didn't want to end up like you, an outcast from everyone I knew. I was too afraid to say anything different and I was too proud to give up what I felt I had earned from everyone so I said nothing. No, I did something worse. I said what everyone was saying. Even when we became teammates I was furious with Iruka-sensei for putting me with someone like you. I never stopped to think about what I felt towards you or being teamed up with you, I only thought about what Ino and Kiba would say about you and I decided that I thought it too. Despite that," Sakura began to sob in between her words. "Despite that, despite everything you never let it keep you down. You always did your best to appear happy and I knew you weren't, and I still did nothing. I let you trudge along on your own doing your best to please us, and doing your best to please me. When Sasuke left the village, I thought the world had ended. You were the only one who was really there for me. My parents told me to forget about the trash who would abandon the village, Kakashi-sensei avoided talking with me about it, and Lady Tsunade only told me that she wouldn't have him killed. For my sake. But you, you shared my pain with me. You made me feel validated and while I stayed behind and did nothing but cry, you nearly got yourself killed trying to bring him home."

"Sakura..." Naruto had no strength in his voice. All his emotion had drained from his body and the one thing he felt was pain, pain at the sight of Sakura suffering.

"No!" Sakura shouted out defiantly. "Let me finish! Let me finally say what I think, what Sakura thinks and not what everyone else thinks!" Naruto's mouth hung open in surprise before he shut it and nodded for her to continue.

"When you left with Jiraiya, I missed you." She sobbed. "I missed you every day but I was too proud to admit it. I didn't want to admit that I missed the number one knucklehead ninja of the Leaf, and I didn't want to admit that I thought about you every day while you were gone. I didn't want to admit that I saw you in my dreams, and that I would write letters to you asking about your training only to throw them away before I was even finished. I was still nothing but a scared little girl, too afraid to do what it was that she really wanted. Even when you came home I did nothing but berate you. When you fought with Pain, I was so scared. I thought you would die and never come home to me, and then I would have to deal with what my cowardice had lost me. I'd have to deal with the fact that I'd never told you what I really thought of you. That I respected you. That I cared for you and that I loved you." Naruto wanted to speak, to try and calm her down, but he let her keep going just like she wanted. He let her cry and hug herself tightly while she poured out years of her hidden emotions onto the floor. "I left you alone. I let everyone's misinformed and wrong opinions of you cloud what I really thought of you and I let you suffer your entire life alone, and that's why I don't deserve to kiss you. I don't even deserve to be called your friend, or your teammate. Naruto... I'm sorry."

She had finished. The room was silent save for Sakura's heavy sobs that broke the air with each heave. Naruto stood silent and still, unable to look at Sakura. He thought long and hard about what to say and knew that he had no room for mistakes here.

"Sakura." Naruto stated softly. Her crying quieted and slowed, yet she kept her eyes pinned to the floor. "Sakura, you are in no way to blame for me being alone." She didn't respond. Naruto took small and slow steps towards her as he continued to speak. "You know, when I was little, I hated a lot of people." Her cries broke out again, albeit weaker than before. "I hated them all for the way they treated me, how no one would respect me or acknowledge my existence. But I never hated you." Sakura had calmed her breath again. "No, I would never have expected for you to feel anything but hatred towards me, but it never mattered to me. I didn't have much to look forward to when I was a kid. Every day was filled with bullies and assaults from anyone that could reach me. But above it all, I still remembering seeing you playing in the park. I remember that little white flower you had in your hair and the way that you smiled at everyone around you. My life felt dark and empty for a long time, but your smile looked so bright and beautiful to me. I knew I wanted to be one of those people that you smiled at some day." Naruto had a brighter and crisper tone to it than he had before, enough so that it seemed to pierce the cold coat of sorrow that had surrounded Sakura as she looked up with a vulnerable expression. "You're wrong, you know. About not being there for me. Ever since we've been teammates, you've been there for me."

"Naruto, don't. Please, don't lie to me like this." Sakura blurted out. Naruto took a stern look to his face in response and placed his hands firmly on Sakura's arms.

"I'm not lyin'. I'm not good with words, I can't really speak what's on my mind, and frankly sometimes I feel outright stupid when I'm with people as smart as you. But ever since we were teamed up together you've been there for me. It didn't have to be with words, it was always through actions. When you stayed out with me that night I trained to walk up the tree in the Land of Waves and gave me advice to help me catch the trick. When you took me under that tree in the Chunin Exams and you looked after me when I was passed out. When we went to rescue Gaara and you were scared for me, even while you were busy fighting Sasori. When I lost control of myself fighting Orochimaru and the Nine-Tails started to take me over. I never told you, but I remembered seeing you cry and hearing you yell out to me." Sakura had stopped crying and was only listening intently to Naruto. "And finally, when Kakashi-sensei carried me back home after my fight with Pain. You didn't need to say anything to me then, I knew exactly what you wanted to tell me once you hugged me. I've never been good with words or listening anyhow, actions speak way louder to me than any of those. And you've shown me how much you care about me through every little thing you do when I'm in danger, and every time you ever smile at me." Sakura coughed up a slight smile as Naruto's thumb grazed her cheek and wiped away the remainder of her tears. Her cheeks and lips felt hot and puffy and her eyes were burning and blurry. As Naruto leaned in closer to her she simply closed her eyes and met his lips with hers. They shared a passionate moment of intimacy in the middle of the living room as they kissed each other over and over again. Naruto's warmth began to overtake Sakura's body as her hands ran up his chest to wrap behind his shoulders. Naruto slid his hands down Sakura's arms to her sides and just above her waist at the bottom of her back, where he pulled her closer and tighter against him. When they were done they simply stood there with their foreheads pressed against each other, breathing in each other's breaths as their heartbeats calmed to one.

Their lips, so close to each other already, connected once again. Naruto's body had fallen under a spell of ecstasy and followed a will of it's own. His hands connected to and responding to Sakura's body trailed and followed her every curve, grabbing and feeling every supple part of her that he could find. Sakura was filled with pleasure and excitement, but convinced herself to stop them both right there. She kept her body pressed against Naruto as she pulled her face away.

"Naruto, I want to stop here." She looked up at him with lust in her eyes but a serious lock across her face.

"Yeah, okay. We stop here." Naruto answered to her. Sakura eased up and comfort returned to her cheeks as she kissed him once, twice, three times more.

"But I don't want you to sleep alone on the couch, either." Sakura purred at him. With his mischievous smile returning to his lips, Naruto kissed her a final time before grabbing her hands and letting her lead him upstairs, where they shared a peaceful, quiet, and intimate night together as they slept soundly snug against each other in utter bliss.

**Author's Note: **Alright, so, it finally happened. Lol I did promise myself I would keep this rated T, and Sakura is still a teenager who's only just had her first kiss, so don't hate me too much for her not wanting to go farther. I hope you guys enjoyed, but it might be another week or so before chapter five makes it to the shelves. I was sick last weekend in the hospital and missed a lot of work, so I've picked up a few extra shifts this week and on top of that I have three different exams to be ready for. But I will continue work as soon as possible, I promise!


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **I decided to add a title for this chapter, lol I'm not sure if I'll keep doing so or not. But in all reality, Kushina really lives up to her title. Enjoy!

**Chapter 5: The Red Hot Habanero**

Sakura awoke to a blurry and cozy morning. The sun was shining a filtered light through the pink curtains and people were heard chatting in the distance. A few birds sat and sang on her porch and downstairs Sakura could hear plates and pans clanging around. Sakura turned to her other side to find a missing Naruto, his side of the covers left lazily thrown over. She sat up and allowed her jacket and tank top to fall back down over her midriff, not realizing that they had risen up to leave it bare through the night. After a long and fulfilling stretch Sakura tossed her legs out of bed and found her slippers, allowing them to guide her out of the bedroom. Sakura was anything but a morning person, only getting up early every day when someone else made her do so. Her hair was ragged and tangled and crease marks covered her arms, showcasing a deep night's sleep. Through groggy eyes she guided herself down the stairs and into the living room, where she saw Naruto washing dishes in the kitchen. He was still wearing the robe she had given him, but had rolled the sleeves up to his shoulders and loosened the sash to allow it to hang more comfortably around his collar.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, still sounding half-asleep. "What are you doing?"

"Huh?" Naruto turned around abruptly, he hadn't heard Sakura walking down the stairs and she gave him a good scare with her sudden appearance. "Oh, Sakura! You're awake!" Naruto was loud and energetic, showcasing a beaming smile as he walked over to her. Kissing her on the forehead he said, "Good morning."

Blushing profusely, Sakura sheepishly replied "Good morning" as well.

"Come on, Sakura, I have something I made for you!" He placed his hand on her shoulder and pushed her towards the table at the end of the room, where two plates filled with steaming food lay in wait.

"Breakfast? You made us breakfast?" She asked in shock. "You can cook?"

"Aw, geez, Sakura. There's no need to act so surprised." Naruto said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Smiling, Sakura continued. "I'm sorry, I just never knew that you could cook is all."

"Not even I can eat ramen everyday, ya' know. I had to start learning how to cook different things a long time ago." Naruto said as he continued guiding her towards the table. He pulled her chair out for her and helped her to sit down before sitting down himself.

Sakura yawned for nearly a half minute before reaching out and taking her first bite of the food. "Mm, Naruto! This is delicious!" She exclaimed excitedly through a mouth full of food before lavishly taking another bite. Naruto simply laughed to himself having expected her reaction. For years he'd been making this breakfast and he knew it was his best, but it was still heart-warming to see someone else enjoy it too. They sat in silent happiness as they finished their meals, and Naruto was eager to take her plate and finish cleaning. He partly felt as if he owed her for washing his clothes the previous night, but he also just loved doing things for Sakura. It gave him a powerful sense of fulfillment that nothing else quite did. When he had finished setting out the plates to dry and turned around, Sakura was standing directly in front of him having snuck up on him again.

"Hi." She said with her cheeks flushing a bright pink. Naruto could feel his stomach turning again and stuttered out an unintelligible response. Sakura giggled at the sight of her flustered Naruto before leaning in to kiss him, grabbing his hands and pulling them down to her side. They stood there for what felt like forever, exchanging laughs, smiles, and kisses and not wasting a single movement with each other.

"This has to be a dream." Floated through the air from Naruto's lips, catching on to Sakura's ears.

"If this is a dream, then I want to sleep forever." Sakura answered in equal, nuzzling her head against Naruto's chest and holding tight to his waist.

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_

A barrage of fists assaulted the front door and instantly shattered the moment of serenity between the two lovers. Naruto slowly stepped in front of Sakura and put his arm out in front of her. The violence of this visitor against the door was unsettling to say the least, and Naruto took it upon himself to answer it.

The walk to the door was slow and agonizing, with each bang sending shock waves through their bodies. The force of the knocking had become so loud and strong that they were sure the door would fall through. The person knocking was relentless, stopping for one to two seconds at a time before resuming their siege on the wooden frame. Slowly, Naruto reached for the door knob. Each knock reverberated through the metal knob and shook Naruto's hand as he carefully opened the door. In the same second that Naruto opened the door, a powerful gust of wind blew it wildly into the wall. Naruto was knocked back off balance from the blow as an irate woman sprinted through the open doorway and punched Naruto directly in his jaw, sending him toppling to the floor.

"What the FUCK are you doing here, Menma?!" Kushina screamed in fury at her grovelling son. Sakura jumped back away from the flaming redhead as her hair was swinging wildly as if possessed by her fury. Sakura hadn't experienced such an intense presence since she met Orochimaru in the Chunin Exams. "And would you mind explaining to me why the hell your clothes and your UNDERWEAR ARE NOT ON YOUR BODY?! TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT RIGHT NOW!" As she screamed this, Kushina grabbed Naruto's ankles and pulled him forcefully closer to him. She pulled him up by the front of his robe and gripped his ear as if she wanted to rip it right off of his head, not giving him the chance to answer.

"You're late for our mission too, ya' know! The super important mission given to us by the Hokage!" Kushina yelled as she tossed Naruto against the wall. "And you had me worried sick last night when you didn't come home! I thought you might have died or been kidnapped, and I come to find out you just had a fling with the hero's daughter?! Despicable! Disgusting!" With each descriptive word she gave Naruto another forceful blow on top of the head. Rather than fight back, he simply shielded himself from the blows. This may not be his real mother, but her image was just as frightening and more than enough to bring this Sage down to his knees.

"Kushina!" A voice worriedly cried out from afar. In a flash, a streak of yellow hair had restrained this fuming woman from striking Naruto any further. "Kushina that's enough! I'm sure there's an explanation!" Minato cried out as he struggled to hold his wife.

Naruto's head was pounding and swirling from the beating. As he sat up the world spun violently round and he swore that he might puke all over himself and the floor. Minato let go of Kushina once he was sure that she was calm and walked over to Naruto, offering a hand to help him up. Naruto refused it.

Once he was standing tall and done swaying, Minato came to meet him eye to eye. "Menma. Explain this." Minato demanded. Naruto scrunched his face up angrily and looked away. Minato, however, was unrelenting. He continued to stare at Naruto with a stern expression until he finally caved in.

"Nothing happened." He stated dryly. "I came over to get my jacket back and she offered to wash my clothes for me. I showered and fell asleep here. That's it."

"A likely story." Kushina pouted behind Minato.

"Relax, love." Minato said softly to his wife, in which she only looked away in reply. "I trust our son and I know you do too, Kushina. This may be a compromising situation for them both," at this Minato looked towards Sakura, who quickly looked away. "But I believe Menma. He would fess up to us if something did transpire here last night." Naruto looked up in heartstruck awe, his eyes watering at the words coming from his father. This Minato may not be real but his voice resonated with Naruto just like his father's did, and to have to such unfounded faith in him nearly brought Naruto to tears. Minato looked back towards Naruto through the corner of his eyes and let out his trade mark beautiful smile. Naruto couldn't take it, and brushed past him towards Kushina.

"Can I have my clothes, please." Naruto said more as a statement than a question with eyes locked to the ground. Kushina looked at him with regret swelling in her stomach. Now that she was calm, she wished that she had handled this situation differently. She held out his clothes and watched as Naruto took them and walked away without saying a single word, crushing this mother's heart.

"Lady Sakura, would you mind getting prepared as well? We were supposed to meet the rest of our team at the gates an hour ago." Minato spoke with a polite and respectful tone, his mannerisms differing wildly from that of Naruto's. It wasn't until now that Sakura had noticed that both of Naruto's parents were geared up in the traditional flak jackets and forehead protectors with equipment bags hanging on their sides. Sakura obliged and rushed upstairs. Once she was out of sight of the two she went to find Naruto, where she found him standing tense and bent over the bathroom sink with his hands on either side of the basin. His face had taken a mixed expression of sorrow, anger, and pain.

"Naruto... Are you okay?" Sakura asked from the doorway, intensely worried about Naruto's physical and emotional state.

"It's not fair." Naruto lamented. His knuckles were turning white from how hard he was gripping the counter tops and Sakura was almost afraid that he would break them. "I shouldn't be reminded of them like this. It... It almost feels real, the way they talk. I hate it. But at the same time, just now, I just felt like it was real, is all. Like it was really real." Naruto's voice trailed off and his eyes stared blankly in the mirror. "If you'll excuse me, Sakura." Naruto said dejectedly without looking up to her. Against her will she turned away and went to get ready, leaving Naruto alone. By the time she was geared up and ready to go, Naruto was already waiting outside her door. They walked silently together to Minato and Kushina before proceeding to the gates, where Gai and Kakashi were waiting.

"One thousand three... One thousand four... One thousand five..." Kakashi was doing one-handed handstand push ups in the middle of the gateway while Gai sat depressingly against the wall. Noticing the approach of Minato and everyone following him, Kakashi leapt to his feet in excitement. "You're finally here! All right everybody, let's give this our all!" He shouted into the sky, facing away from the village in the signature "Nice Guy" pose.

"How can I?" A tired voice rang out. "Two missions back to back with no break, I'm exhausted. I'm not as young as I used to be." Gai said depressingly with his head hanging low.

"Come on, don't say that!" Kakashi said energetically as he knelt next to Gai. "The days of our youth are far from over, now come one! Get up!" They comically wrestled for a moment, but to no avail. Kakashi ended up standing over a defeated Gai feeling quite exasperated as Gai lay face first in the dirt, refusing to budge.

"Total role reversal..." Sakura sighed to herself as watched the two continue to argue. Naruto ignored the pair as he stood by himself, looking out beyond the village with a stern look across his face.

"What's with that look on your face for? You trying to look cool in front of the Hero's Daughter? I bet you want to impress her-r-r." Kushina teased, nudging Naruto with her elbow.

"Will you stop touching me!" Naruto shouted as he knocked her hand away before running across the plaza away from her.

"Hey! What was that for? Stop rebelling." Kushina pouted as she let her son run off. Minato eyed his son suspiciously but held his tongue for the time being.

Sakura jogged over to Naruto to confront him. "Hey! You didn't have to do that-"

"What?!" Naruto interrupted her quickly and angrily. "They're not really my parents, remember?" He looked away, completely overtaken by his emotions and unwilling to talk to anyone. Wanting to break the tension, Minato called everyone together to get ready to go.

"Kushina and I will lead the way." Minato explained. "Kakashi, you will follow us forty meters to our left. Gai, you will be forty meters to our right. Menma, Sakura," He called out to them. "You two will stay together and remain thirty meters behind us. No one should know where the scroll is hidden or that we're heading out to retrieve it, so the likelihood of an ambush is slim. It doesn't hurt to be safe, however, so everyone stay on your toes and be prepared for anything that may come." Minato looked to see if there was any confusion among his group, and after finding none he leapt into the trees and signaled for them to commence the mission.

Minato stopped on the edge of a cliff. Below them lay a large ring of grass with a thick patch of trees in the center.

"That must be where Master Jiraiya hid the scroll." Kushina said.

"It must be." Minato agreed. "Undoubtedly he's laid plenty of traps to protect it. Kushina, go bring Sakura and Menma to us. Kakashi, I want you to take the lead with your sharingan."

"Got it!" Kakashi enthusiastically replied. Suddenly toning down in energy, he continued. "Or, so I'd like to say. I went a bit overboard, 'been using the sharingan. A lot." Kakashi said as he sat down, exhausted.

"You always peter out at the most important moments, don't you?" Minato said with obvious annoyance.

"Actually, I could use a rest too.." Gai said on a short breath as he fell back against a tree. "Age tires both body and soul."

With a heavy sigh, Minato turned his back to the ridiculous duo. "Fine, we'll take a short break."

Breaking through the brush, Kushina came back to Minato alongside Sakura with a worried expression on her face. "I can't find Menma anywhere!" Minato turned around quickly and with the same anxiety as his wife. Before he could interrogate Sakura as to where his son had gone, a loud explosion pierced the silence behind him. Turning back around, Minato and everyone saw three behemoth toads standing in front of the ring of trees... and Naruto standing across from them.

"Menma!" Kushina shouted in alarm. Immediately both Minato and Kushina were sprinting as fast as they could across the sea of grass in order to reach their son. Gai, Kakashi, and Sakura were slower to react, coming behind them and soon they were all gathered around Naruto. "Menma! How many times...?" Kushina asked angrily, not expecting an answer.

"The trap's already set off, no use crying about it now." Minato said quickly. Moving forward to confront the toads, Gamabunta, Gamaken, and Gamahiro, Minato yelled out, "We are shinobi from the Leaf! We are here to retrieve the Red Moon Scroll left behind by Master Jiraiya!"

"I don't care who you are!" Gamabunta yelled, his deep voice thundering through the air. "Our instructions are to prevent the scroll from being taken by anyone, no matter who they are!"

"Chief, would you just listen to me!" Naruto pleaded.

"Silence!" Gamabunta's infuriated voice shook the ground they stood on as he spit his massive cigarette at Naruto, which everyone managed to dodge just in time. Before they could react any further Gamabunta was inhaling deeply as he kneaded chakra for a massive water based attack. A tidal wave as tall and wide as the cliffsides came surging forth, overwhelming the group. Knowing there was no way for everyone to escape, Kushina lept in front of the attack. With a seal of her hands she split the wave in two and sent it spiraling around them all, saving them for the time being.

"No room for negotiations, huh." Minato muttered under his breath. "Alright, we cut through!" At his behest, the team began sprinting towards Gamabunta with the intention of running right under him. Knowing his disadvantage, Gamabunta already came prepared. Along with Gamaken and Gamahiro accompanying him, a multitude of smaller toads came along as well. As the team neared the trio of massive toads, these smaller ones began leaping from behind them. Armored and armed, this was a serious force to contend with and immediately caused the Leaf ninja to cease advancing.

In a flurry of swords and axes the fight threatened to soon turn into a bloodbath. "Don't hurt them!" Minato shouted. "These toads signed a contract with Jiraiya-sensei, they're only doing their duty!" Against their wishes, everyone grudgingly agreed and did their best not to cause serious injuries to who they were fighting. This proved to be exceedingly difficult, however, as these toads were anything but weak. Versed in the arts of senjutsu and backed by the behemoth beasts behind them, it seemed to be all they could just to not be killed by these defenders of the scroll.

"Dammit! I don't have time for this!" Naruto screamed. "Multi Shadow Clones!" In an instant Naruto had multiplied by a few hundred, much to the regular amazement of all. Through sheer overwhelming numbers Naruto forced his way through, causing serious alarm with his mother who found the strength to follow him.

"Just let me through already, Chief!" Naruto pleaded again, much more desperately this time.

"Runt, don't act like I'm your friend." Gamabunta stated, almost sounding as if he regretted what he was about to do. Inhaling and kneading chakra again, Gamabunta prepared a deadly attack in which Naruto was too slow to react to. A purple liquid as viscous as water spewed from the Chief's mouth, and Naruto was only saved by Kushina attempting to recreate her earlier feat of splitting the tidal wave. This acid, however, wasn't only made of water and Kushina didn't have the elemental affiliation to properly combat it. She managed to divert a small amount of it but was horribly burned all over her body in the process of protecting her son.

"Kushina!" Minato screamed in alarm as he heard his wife's cries. Before she could hit the ground Minato had teleported to her and caught her in his arms, being careful not to touch her burns. At this point she was in too much pain to react to him and could only cringe and flail in excruciating pain. Naruto was overflowing with shock and horror at the sight. No matter the fact that these were not his parents, they still looked and acted much the same. His mother had taken a near fatal wound for him and there was no denying the intense love here, a love that Naruto had wanted to feel his entire life.

"Why... Why would she... Why would she do that?" Naruto stammered out, his voice trembling in terror.

"Stand back, Menma." Minato said, returning to his usual cool and collected self.

"But-" Naruto tried to argue.

"Just stay here and protect Kushina!" Minato demanded, not willing to be denied. "I'll handle the rest." Standing tall and straight, Minato threw his signature kunai as far as they would go. As Sakura ran up to begin treatment on Kushina, Minato vanished. In a grand total of three seconds, Minato had cleared the dozens of yards in between him and the forest and left absolutely no time for the toads to react.

"Damn he's fast!" Gamabunta shouted in utter disbelief.

In a matter of moments Minato had come upon the clearing in which the Red Moon Scroll was hidden. Bamboo trees surrounded him and the thick leaves above him let through a dark green light, just barely illuminating the small doors etched into the rock below him. A seal kept the doors shut tight, but it only took this genius a small amount of time to figure out what exactly it was.

"A fused sealing jutsu, a transportation ninjutsu, and perimeter barrier jutsu. Impressive, to be able to do this in your dying moments... I'm just about the only one alive who could break this." Minato said with a tone of respect for his deceased teacher. In a flash of hand seals the protective barrier was shattered, breaking the summoning of the toads and clearing everyone of the danger at hand. Minato stood and pulled the bamboo scroll from the doors, looking carefully at the string that was binding it. "Thank you sensei, you made sure that only I could retrieve this scroll." In a flash, Minato had teleported away again back into the open and back to the rest of his subordinates.

Kushina was still writhing in agony despite Sakura's best efforts, and Kakashi and Minato agreed that they were too vulnerable in the open. They moved Kushina into the cover of the bamboo woods as Sakura continued to heal her and Kakashi and Gai stood guard over the two. Meanwhile, Minato confronted Naruto about his behavior some distance away.

"Kushina suffered sever burns, I hope you know what I'm about to say." Minato lectured Naruto.

"Just leave me alone, would ya'!" Naruto shouted back, earning a rightful anger in his father's eyes. "You two just stop fussing over me, I never asked her to jump in or get hurt so just knock it off! I could have gotten out of there myself!"

A loud slap reverberated through the air, leaving Naruto stunned and surprised. "That's not how this works." Minato explained. "We're your parents. For us, there is no choice. We don't stop to think about whether or not to jump in and sacrifice ourselves for you, that's nothing more than our basic instinct. Your body just moves, there's no thinking or logic behind it." Naruto fought deeply within himself, still desperate to resist giving in to this world but finding it harder with every word spoken by his father. "That's what it means to be a parent."

"But how can you say that.." Naruto said as his voice trembled. This dream world, and these fake parents, they were all too similar to the ones he had back home.

"Hm?" Minato had a puzzled look on his face. "Am I wrong somehow in my line of thinking?"

"That's not what I was talking about," Naruto said quietly. "It's just-" He was interrupted by Minato's hand on his shoulder. Looking up, Naruto only saw his father's bright blue eyes and even brighter smile looking back down at him.

"Don't do something reckless like that again." Minato said softly. "I talked it over with Kushina before we left. After this mission is over, we want to submit your Jonin application." The heart-warming moment between father and son was soon cut short by a cry from behind.

"Menma!" Kushina was on her feet again propped up against a rock, obviously still in pain. Her skin had returned to her natural color free of burns and in the distance, Sakura sat exhausted and panting to herself.

"Oh! Uh, Kushina!" Minato stammered out, suddenly feeling afraid for his son's life. "I already gave him a stern talking to-"

"What you put me through!" Kushina cried out angrily, completely ignoring her flustered husband as she ran towards Naruto. Bracing for another brutal assault, Naruto closed his eyes and looked away only for his mother to grab him and hug him tightly. In a complete change of tone, affection and relief poured out of Kushina onto her son in the form of her voice as tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm so glad you weren't hurt..." Minato simply looked on from afar, happy to see such a beautiful scenario between his wife and child.

Naruto's conflict had been forcefully ended. All his doubt, all his unwillingness to accept these images of his parents were quickly flooded and forced out by the love he received from his mother. Giving in, Naruto's face relaxed and turned soft as he slowly lifted his arms and returned his mother's embrace. Feeling vulnerable and overwhelmed with bliss, Naruto stood there silently in this dream, never wanting this moment to end.

"They're such a loving family..." Kakashi added comically. Sakura, however, was feeling anything but touched. She stood alone and tensed as she watched Naruto fall further into the dream, and she grew worried as to what this could imply, if this might mean that Madara could more easily take control.

"I'm sure Jiraiya can rest in peace now." Tsunade said, feeling a great sense of accomplishment as she held the Red Moon Scroll tightly in her grasp. Minato and Kushina had gone home early for the day, leaving Kakashi in charge to report back to Tsunade. Dusk had fallen and the sky had been painted a bright mixture of orange and pink outside the Hokage's office and the building was quiet, save for the occasional shuffle of feet and papers.

"Alright, let's send out a strike force immediately!" Kakashi energetically spewed out. "We have what we need to take down that evil Masked Man!"

Pausing to push up her glasses, Tsunade looked up and firmly denied Kakashi. "No." She stated calmly to the confusion of all. "We're still going to have to wait for the proper time."

"What?" Kakashi asked while Gai simply rubbed the top of his head. Naruto and Sakura exchanged quick looks before returning their attention to Tsunade.

"There's yet another part to the prophecy." Tsunade explained. "It says that the Red Moon Scroll can only be used once the moon has been stained vermillion. Until that time, I shall keep the scroll under my protection in heavy lock and key." At this, she dismissed the remainder of the group.

The sun had set even further, leaving the night sky open and littered with stars. Naruto and Sakura walked alone with hands intertwined down a residential street. Small homes and street lights were pressed tightly and evenly all around them and not a single soul accompanied them outside.

"I can't believe that we've got the scroll, but still can't make a move!" Sakura vented in frustration.

"Yeah.." Naruto replied absent-mindedly Sakura wasn't even sure if he was listening at all, but continued anyway.

"Do we even have any idea when the moon is supposed to get stained red?" Sakura asked, her eyes looking sadder the more Naruto ignored her. Turning towards him and forcing his attention on her, she continued once more. "I think tomorrow we should go see Lady Tsunade and-"

Naruto quickly interrupted her, looking shocked as he was pulled out of his day dream. Letting go of her hand and backing quickly away he apologized, "Uhm, I'm sorry Sakura, but I really need to get going." Not waiting to explain her question of 'Why?' he turned on his heel and quickly jogged around the corner, leaving a wounded Sakura to stand alone in the street.

A few blocks down Naruto walked quickly by himself through the bright and bustling night market. Villagers flocked to and fro around him speaking amongst themselves, but only coming across as white noise to a preoccupied mind. As time went on he walked quicker and quicker before breaking out into an outright sprint. Overflowing with excitement as he neared his parents home, he ran up the stairs and entered through the front door. He carefully set his shoes down in the entry way and paused to catch his breath. Nervously, Naruto forced himself to open the living room door.

On the other side sat an extraordinarily average scene. His father sat at the table in his slippers and pajamas reading a book while Kushina finished preparations for dinner in her apron, pajamas, and slippers.

"Well, that was quick." Minato stated as he noticed his son come in. Kushina simply smiled at Naruto and continued on with carrying the food to the table. Brimming with emotion, Naruto teared up in the doorway unable to move.

"Mom and Dad.. This is so..." He stammered out as his voice threatened to betray him.

Thinking he might still feel guilty for what happened to her earlier, Kushina elected to give a positive and loving greeting to her son in the hopes of moving past what transpired that day. "Welcome home, Menma." Kushina said bright and cheerily as she laid out his plate. Those two words were enough, they were all that Naruto had wanted to hear his entire life. To come home to someone who was waiting for him and to be welcomed there, Naruto knew there was no other option for him now. Wiping his tears with his sleeve, he looked up with a truly happy and grateful expression.

"I'm glad to be home." Naruto said, his eyes shining with adoration. Calmly and surely, he stepped from the dark entry way into the blindingly bright living room as if had crossed the finish line of a race he'd been running his entire life. His mother walked over with a beaming smile on her face, ecstatic to see her son at the end of the day. She placed her arm around him in a doting mother's fashion as she guided him to his seat, and Minato simply talked with him and asked him about his visit to Tsunade. For the first time, Naruto felt like he was home. Not sitting alone in his empty apartment, but really, truly somewhere he belonged. The one place that he had always belonged, but had never been able to get to. Now that he was here, there was no way that he was letting it go.

**Author's Note: **This was a pretty difficult chapter to write, there were a lot of emotions at play and I really wanted to display them right. I took a little freedom of expression with Kushina, expanding on her abilities more than what we saw in the movie. I was really disappointed with their confrontations with the toads since it was just a bunch of comical reliefs dog piling on our heroes while Gamabunta spit a little bit of acid on Kushina's shoe and somehow completely incapacitated her. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Lol I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll be working on the next chapter right away. Author out-


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **So I guess that 5 is my lucky number since this is the second time I've taken 5 months to update. Sorry for the wait, but I wanted to make this one worth it. I've had a lot going on with school and family life but I made this chapter longer and wrapped things up with it so you get more bang with your buck. I hope you enjoy, and once I'm able I'll be starting to post my next story on here, too!

**Chapter 6: The Child of Heroes**

The night was lonely and quiet. The villagers had all gone inside and the market was closing up shop. Sakura had been wandering alone through the streets ever since Naruto ran off on his own and she was dreading going home to that empty and cold apartment all alone.

_ There's nothing for me there, _She thought to herself as she sat beneath a tree.. _Nothing but an empty house and a waste of time. _Images of Naruto flashed through her mind and her fingers trembled as she remembered their moments of intimacy. The hours passed by and all she could think of was the hyperactive blonde she had come to love. The moon sat high in the sky, distant and cold to her. "This is nothing like the moon back home..." Sakura sighed. She wondered what might be going through Naruto's head, why he ran off the way he did. _What could be happening here that he was in such a hurry to get to? _She thought of the library, the Hokage, of Kakashi and Gai. A few trails of memories later and she came upon the scene inside the bamboo woods. She remembered the way that Naruto clung to the image of his mother desperately like a child. She remembered how angry he was when they both learned of Madara's villainy and how he had created a pair of fakes for Naruto to subside. There's no way that Naruto would fall into what was so obviously a trap... "No, who am I kidding?" Sakura said aloud as she stood from the bench she was sitting on. "If anyone's gonna fall into a trap it's gonna be Naruto." Her tone was light hearted, but her worry was real. It was, after all, entirely possible that everything they've experienced so far was all planned in order to trap Naruto and capture the Nine Tails inside of him. _Well, there's nothing to it then. Let's go and find Naruto._

Every step weighed down with dread, Sakura walked towards what she imagined to be a horrible scene. Anxiety crawled on her skin and pulled at her very being as Minato's home came into view. She half expected to watch the world shatter around her like a pane of glass as she walked up to the wide window of the home. She could see Naruto in chains with Madara standing menacingly above him, the world in ruins before her. The village burning high above her and the moon bleeding into the sky. What greeted her was a much more homely scene, however. As she peeked her head around the curtains Sakura saw Minato, Kushina, and Naruto all gathered around the table. A feast was laid upon the table with a great, white cake sitting in the middle ablaze with candles. Bright chains of blue, purple, yellow, red, and green confetti were strung around the room with white and red flowers adorning the walls. Two half-empty glasses of wine sat next to the parents and a full glass of what looked to be orange juice sat next to Naruto. Laughter filled the air and the trio of smiles were brighter than the lights of the room. What Sakura heard next was Kushina's voice, struggling to contain her laughter.

"Okay, I'm gonna blow them out!" She shouted. The laughter was silenced immediately as the two men looked on intensely, only for Kushina's wind nature to explicitly show itself as she blew the cake into pieces with nothing but a single breath – reigniting the laughter with a new found fever. "Well, I did blow them out!" Kushina mused defensively as pieces of splattered cake fell to the floor.

Such a lovely family scene should never be heartbreaking one would think, but all Sakura could see was a bittersweet reunion between Naruto and the parents he never knew. She knew that this was all a dream and that it was dangerous for Naruto to become so comfortable with the people who weren't even real, but deep inside her heart she knew she couldn't deny him this. All his life, Naruto was alone. Even if this was a dream and none of this was real, the happiness that Naruto was exuding was more real than anything she'd ever seen before. Sakura didn't have the heart to end this dream. Not right now, at least. She turned to walk away when the sound of a door opening broke the air behind her and a woman's voice called out to her.

"Lady Sakura?" Sakura turned immediately on her heel to see Kushina standing in the doorway. "What are you doing here so late?" Kushina asked in worry. It's unusual to see someone at your door so late at night, much more so to see them walking away without ever knocking.

"Oh, it's nothing!" Sakura said with a wave of her hand. "I was just, it's just... It's nothing, I'm sorry to bother you." Sakura bowed and turned to leave but before she could take one step, Kushina had already come up and placed her hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"You wanted to see Menma, didn't you?" Kushina asked. Sakura didn't know it, but because she didn't have a mother in this world Kushina often stood up to the plate for her. The Sakura of this world had spent many nights crying, laughing, and raging with Kushina (often times at Naruto) so it's only natural for Kushina to become so worried over Sakura.

"Yeah..." Sakura said solemnly. "But I can come back tomorrow. It's late."

"Nonsense!" Kushina exclaimed. "The night's only just beginning, why don't you come inside?" It was more of a command than a question as Kushina had already placed her arm around Sakura and had begun motioning her inside.

"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly intrude!" Sakura stammered out as she unwillingly walked towards the door.

"Don't be ridiculous! It's my birthday and I want you inside to celebrate with us! There's no need to feel unwelcome!" Kushina's face was her trademark bright red as she blushed with affection and Sakura couldn't help but start to feel comfortable, despite all her reasons not to. _Sheesh, if Naruto's real mom was anything like this then I'm a lot more sad to never have met her. _

The front door opened into a dark hallway where Sakura left her shoes. The next door led into the living area which was flooded with light and a happy mood. Minato had just finished his glass of wine and Kushina's was empty too (I think she chugged the rest before running out to find Sakura).

"Good evening, Lady Sakura!" Minato said with a bow. Immediately after, he refilled his and his wife's glasses.

"Hey, Sakura." Naruto said slowly as he stood up to greet her. It was clear that he was feeling guilty for the way he left her alone earlier. Sakura wasn't mad. She knew how Naruto was feeling and understood why he would be in such a rush to leave. She stood in front of him with her arms crossed behind her back and one leg bent, her weight resting on her left toes and the bottom of her right foot. Before either of them could say anything more, Kushina rushed in with an empty wine glass in hand.

"Go on, you two! Don't be nervous!" She excitedly yelled out as she put one arm around each of them and pulled them closer together. "You're young, you're in love, there's nothing to be ashamed of!" At this, both Naruto and Sakura burned a bright red and tried to laugh their ways away from the awkward situation. It wasn't until Minato came over and rescued them that they could get away. Kushina took it as a romantic advance and twirled around the room with her husband before kissing him in the middle of the room.

"Gross." Naruto spat out as he watched from his seat at the table.

"I think it's adorable." Sakura gushed. "Look how happy they are together." It's true, both Minato and Kushina looked like the perfect couple as they blushed in each others arms under the light of the overhead fan, a starry night behind them through the windows and a clean and pristine home around them. When she turned her attention back to Naruto, she saw that he hadn't stopped looking at her. The look in his eyes made Sakura blush deeply, but this time she didn't look away. She gave him a small, flirty smile before leaning in and kissing him. Soft and quick at first, but then she found herself coming back for a few more.

"Cute." Kushina's gushing voice was suddenly near and frightening. The two lovers jumped far from each other and Kushina laughed as if she was really enjoying herself. Meanwhile, Minato was refilling their glasses. Again.

"You know, I think it's adorable." Kushina teased. "Your cheeks were almost the same shade as your hair while you were kissing my son." Kushina laughed cheekily at Sakura's embarrassment and Naruto couldn't help but laugh too.

"Don't be so embarrassed, Lady Sakura." Minato said as he put his arm around his wife's waist and guided her to her seat. "Pink is a good color for you." As graceful as he his, the Fourth Hokage tripped and stumbled his way back to his seat at the head of the table.

"Hey, Sakura." Kushina said. "Have you ever tried wine before?" She raised a glass of wine in her hand and spun it in a circle, swirling the red wine in a sloppy whirlpool.

"Kushina, I'm not sure-" Minato began to say.

"Not sure of whaaat?" Kushina asked comically. "It's one glass, it won't hurt anybody. Especially not a student of Tsunade!" Kushina thrust the glass into Sakura's hand and spilled a bit of wine on the table as she said this and Minato just laughed and waved her off. "It's your choice," He said.

"Well, I can't lie and say I've never thought about it..." Sakura said as she took the glass. Naruto looked on quietly out of the corner of his eye, trying not to look like he was too interested. He hoped to himself that she'd be as affectionate towards him as his mother is towards his father once she's had something to drink. _A teenage fantasy, I guess._ By the time he had finished thinking this to himself Sakura had already finished her glass and Minato and Kushina were cheering for her over-excitedly. Kushina poured a second glass and when Minato tried to stop her, Kushina and Sakura both playfully fought with him for it. He gave up and sat down with Naruto.

"So, how long have you and Sakura been together?" Minato asked Naruto as the ladies of the house danced with each other in the kitchen.

"Hmmm. Not long." Naruto said. "Maybe a couple of days." His father laughed and Naruto couldn't help but laugh as well.

"I have to say, Kushina is probably more excited about you two being together than you are." Minato said.

"Oh is that so?" Naruto turned to his father with a bright smile on his face.

"Yeah, I think so." Minato kept his eyes on his wife, eyeing her with nothing but absolute adoration. "She's always loved Sakura, and since day one she's never wanted any other girl for you. So you could imagine how happy she was when she found out about the two of you. Although, I'm not sure how well Hinata is going to take the good news." Minato mused. Naruto grimaced. He had forgotten all about the Hinata of this world and her not-so-subtle threats to Sakura.

"Geez, I forgot about her..." Naruto said. Minato put a hand reassuringly on his son's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Menma. I'm sure it'll all be okay. These types of things always tend to work themselves out." Minato said with his comforting smile. There was something about him that put Naruto at ease, something that made him completely trust-worthy and believable. _Maybe this is what it's like to just... talk with your father... _Naruto thought.

He didn't have long to think, however, before Sakura had run over and grabbed him by his arms and dragged him out of his chair. As he stumbled his way into the living room he could see Kushina doing the same with Minato.

"Don't just sit and stare at us!" Sakura laughed.

"Yeah! It's a lot more fun to actually dance with us than just fantasizing about it, ya' know?" Kushina was just as exuberant as Sakura was, although far more drunk as well. Kushina turned the radio as high as it would go and wouldn't hear any objections except to let Minato leave to refill their glasses. For hours they all danced and played games with each other on the living room floor. The wine bottle rapidly dwindled and soon two more had followed. By the time they got back to the food that had been so carefully prepared, it was ice cold. Naruto was the only one who noticed.

Sakura, Minato, and Kushina all had trouble eating neatly. Their mouths were covered in sauce and food crumbs had fallen everywhere. Once their stomachs were full, it was lights out. Each one of them passed out on the table and left Naruto to clean up alone.

"Who would've thought that I'd be taking care of you three?" Naruto said to a sleeping audience as he stood exasperated over them. "I'm supposed to be the reckless one, ya' know." With a quick wave of his hands, a dozen shadow clones appeared in his home. "Help me get this cleaned up, would ya'?"

"Right away!" They replied in unison. In a matter of moments the house was sparkling clean again, but they left all the decorations up. Naruto thought they looked nice. The wine bottles were lined up in the middle of the table and two clones remained to carry everyone to bed. He tucked his mom and dad in tight and kissed his mom on the forehead.

"Good night, mom. Happy birthday." She wasn't awake to hear it, but there was a real melancholy in his voice. He watched his mother breathe slowly in her sleep. Her hair was messy and she started to drool a little down her cheek. Regardless, she looked beautiful and above all – alive. What started off as a wonderful and carefree evening now rapidly descended into a depressing night. _None of this is real. _Naruto thought to himself as he watched his dad carelessly flop over, hitting his mom in the process. They looked so human and normal and _real _that Naruto couldn't take it anymore. With tears in his eyes, he made sure that Sakura was sleeping comfortably and snugly in his bed... and then he left. Quietly and without a word. He felt so happy now that he had his parents with him, happier than he'd ever been. But the world was cruel at times and gave him a beautiful scar in place of a happy ending.

/\

He wandered the streets for hours. Nobody was outside and it started to rain. It must have been almost three in the morning by the time he went outside and before he knew it the sun had started to rise.

"Looks like I'm not getting any sleep tonight." Naruto said to himself on a park bench. He watched the red sun climb slowly into the sky, tinting the falling rain with a bright orange and pink as he woke the sleeping world. The rain slowed to a mist, then nothing at all. Soon after the villagers began to open up shops, all ready and waiting for the first customers of the day. Naruto returned home soaking wet and feeling only slightly better than before. The clock on the wall read "8:30 am" and everyone was still sound asleep. Naruto went upstairs to find Sakura sprawled across his bed, drool dripping down her cheek and her hair matted up like a wild beast's. He smiled to himself, sitting softly on the edge of the bed and spent a few minutes admiring the girl in his bed. He took a few moments to try and untangle her hair before giving up on an impossible task, then set to wiping the drool from her cheek. She said something unintelligible before rolling over, and Naruto kissed her on the head then got up to shower off the morning rain.

He stayed in there for what felt like forever. The water of the shower was much warmer than the rain outside and he hoped that he could wash himself clean of his negative feelings. That didn't work. When he finally dried up at 10 am and laid down on the couch, he felt nothing but static that stabbed him all over. In a slow moving world his gut was ripped to shreds. The morning crawled to the afternoon and Naruto felt a constant dread and panic of what might be regret tearing at him before he fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

He awoke to a crick in his neck and a weight by his side. The smell of something cooking wafted through the air and Naruto opened his eyes to see Sakura in a bath robe sitting pressed against him.

"Oh! You're finally awake." Sakura said with a bright smile. She leaned down to kiss him. "Good afternoon, sleepy head."

With a grunt and a sigh Naruto slowly sat up. "Good afternoon." He looked to the kitchen to see his parents both fully dressed and putting the last touches on what looked to be the afternoon meal. "You're all looking awfully rejuvenated." He said dryly.

"I studied under Lady Tsunade for years," Sakura said cheerfully. "Treating a hangover is a piece of cake by this point. Now let me look at you and make sure you don't have anything wrong."

"I'm not hungover, if that's what you're wondering." Naruto waved her off. "I didn't have anything to drink last night."

"Heh, sorry about that." Minato said as he walked over in his pink apron with hands full of food. He set down a plate of steaming hot food in front of Naruto. "We got a little carried away last night. I'm sorry that you had to take care of us."

Naruto took a moment to look at the food before turning his attention back to Minato. "And this is your way of making up for it?" He asked suspiciously.

"Well, I thought it could be a start." Minato laughed nervously. Naruto laughed and took a huge bite into the food and instantly burned himself, much to the humor of all. Almost as soon as he was awake and with everyone again his sorrow drained off him like the rain from last night drained from the roof tops – quickly and quietly. The puddles remained however, as a silent reminder of what transpired before.

/\

"Say, Naruto. Can I ask you something?" Naruto and Sakura were standing alone in a back alley. The sun had long gone down below the horizon and the stars once again battled for control of the night sky. They had spent the entire day together ever since they left Naruto's house. Sakura's clothes finally finished drying and Kushina even hand pressed them for her before they left.

"Yeah, whats up?" Naruto said coolly. They were both standing with their backs against a wooden fence. They had just narrowly avoided a confrontation with Hinata earlier and Sasuke had helped them to escape with no questions asked.

"Are you really happy here?" The question stung like the bite of a blade. Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it and never did. His eyes sunk lower than his heart and he stood there with his face towards the ground. It was a while before Sakura pushed the question any further. "I mean, last night you really seemed happy. Happier than I've seen you in a long time." Another long pause. "I know how you feel. Or at least, how you felt when you first saw these – your parents. I can't imagine those feelings just having disappeared overnight."

"They didn't." Naruto said finally, bitterness cloaking his voice. "That was all I thought about last night. After you fell asleep."

"Naruto..." Her voice was heavy with concern as she reached out and grabbed his hand.

"It's just that... I am happy. When I'm with them. But it's just like this world, it's fake. All of it's fake. As soon as they've fallen asleep, or gone away, I remember that. It's always in the back of my mind, tugging at me as if I don't want to forget. But I'm not sure if I do want to forget or not. Part of me wants to stay here forever. Stay here and be Menma instead of Naruto. With them. With you. But part of me knows I can't do that. And that's killing me inside."

"I'm sorry, Naruto." Sakura said. She turned to face him and stood intimately close to him. He didn't look up. "I can't even begin to understand what this must feel like for you, or how hard this decision has to be." She moved closer, resting her head against his chest and moving her arms around his back. He held her in answer, softly pulling her close against him as she continued to speak. "It's not fair to you to have been thrown into this world, to have to see what could have been only to have to leave it behind. But it's not all bad, I don't think." Naruto perked his ears up.

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking intently down at Sakura.

"What I mean is that because of this world, you and I are together. And I don't think that's a dream that we'll forget once we get home." She looked up to meet Naruto's eyes to find him blushing profusely with a nervous look on his face. She smiled sincerely at him and placed her hand on his cheek. "And then I won't have to hide how cute I think you are all the time." In an instant he had leaned down to kiss her, not giving her the time to pull him closer and kiss him first. They embraced each other in the privacy of the night, only stopping to catch their breath. Their breath become rapid and heavy, hot with arousal. With both hands on his cheeks and forehead pressed against his, she looked deep into his eyes with a bashful look in hers. Here in this moment they felt truly alone with each other. No one else in the world could interrupt them now, and even if they did then what did it matter?

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

Suddenly a burst of what sounded like thunder roared through the air. Seconds later a massive shock wave ripped leaves from trees and threatened to knock down the fence and the two lovers.

"What was that?!" Sakura asked in panic as they both turned to see a massive smoke cloud rising from what used to be the Hokage's mansion. Without so much as a look to each other they both began running towards the explosion. "Do you think it's Madara?"

"Dunno. Could be." Short and quick responses. All their energy was focused on getting to the mansion as quick as possible. When they got there they found nothing but rubble and smoke. The Hokage was kneeling on the ground with blood gushing down her side and two wounded Anbu shinobi stayed at her side despite their heavy injuries. Multiple dead shinobi lay littered in the destruction as reinforcements came rushing in from all sides.

"I don't have time for this." A deep voice called out. "Nine Masked Beasts!" At his command a dark and chilling chakra reverberated through the air. On the wind came a howling from something unknown and in an instant, nine mysterious cloaked figures appeared floating in the air. They surrounded a man standing on the ground across from the Hokage. He wore a long cape with a strange pattern on it and what appeared to be a mask wrapped around his head. As soon as they appeared they were gone again, wrecking havoc on the ill-prepared defenders of the Leaf. Soon the Hokage stood alone again. Before Naruto and Sakura could react Kakashi, Gai, Minato, and Kushina all jumped in front of Tsunade.

"You won't take one more step!" Minato cried out.

"Dad!" Naruto said to himself. Sakura put one arm out to keep him from running forward.

"Wait, Naruto! It doesn't look like anyone knows we're here. We can use that to our advantage and strike when he lets his guard down." Sakura said calmly. Reluctantly, Naruto gave in and stood back to watch the scene unfold.

"Give me the Red Moon Scroll. I know you have it." The Masked Man said.

"Never! We'll never give it to you!" Tsunade yelled defiantly.

"You don't have a choice." Before he could finish talking a barrier erected itself around each individual ninja, catching them all off guard. Two of the masked beasts came back to hover over the Masked Man, it was they who made the seals to create the barriers. The other seven beasts came and surrounded the Hokage and her guard, each one with a menacing stare and black cloaks as dark as the night. "Give me the scroll," He demanded angrily again. He received nothing but cold stares in response.

"Do it." The Masked Man said. A masked beast who looked like a Death Priest rose high in the air with an evil grin on his mask and a sick scythe in his hands. He swung and a gust of purple wind ripped through each and every one of the helpless shinobi.

"What? Our chakra... Gone in one hit?" Minato asked in disbelief as he collapsed to his knees.

"The next one will kill you." The Masked Man said as the priest raised his scythe again. "I won't ask again. Give me the Red Moon Scro-" He sidestepped an assail of kunai from behind, which narrowly missed hitting the Hokage herself. "Did you think I didn't notice you?" The Masked Man asked to Sakura and Naruto, who genuinely thought they caught him by surprise. All nine masked beasts flew to meet the duo as the Masked Man turned around.

"That doesn't matter!" Sakura yelled out. We won't let you hurt anyone anymore!"

"Not while we're still standing!" Naruto yelled with her.

"Menma, no! Get out of here! He's the Masked Man!" Minato screamed in a dread panic for his son.

"Yeah, I could tell by the mask." Naruto said sarcastically, mostly to himself. "We know who you are, Madara!"

"Madara?" The Masked Man asked in sincere surprise. "You know him as well?"

"Know him...? You mean, you're not Madara?" Sakura asked, feeling seriously defeated as she was so sure they had just found their way out of this world. Now that she knew this man was not Madara, she doubted as to whether or not there really was a way home.

"No, I'm not him. And judging by your tone I don't suppose you're a friend of his." The Masked Man raised his arm and the beasts moved in response. Before anyone could move a clone of Naruto leapt above the imprisoned shinobi and hurled a rasenshuriken at the Masked Man, who turned around and dispelled it with a flash of hand seals.

"What?!" Sakura and Naruto both cried out in confusion. The Masked Man preyed on their momentary weakness and hit them hard with all of his beasts in a flurry of concussions. The two sisters who imprisoned everyone wrapped up Sakura from head to toe and beat her unconscious. Before Naruto could get back on his feet, the Masked Man was on top of him.

"Don't get up. There's something disgusting about you." The Masked Man pulled out a kunai, but before he could stab Naruto Minato teleported them both to safety.

"Just in time." Minato panted. It was clear that it took a great deal out of him to save Naruto. The Masked Man flew up into the sky with Sakura limp beside him, held tightly by his masked beast.

"You let her go!" Naruto screamed in rage.

"I will. Bring me the Red Moon Scroll, and she's free to go." The barriers vanished from around everybody. "Take this as a parting gift. You have twelve hours." He flew up higher and higher with his beasts until he looked as small and distant as the stars in the sky. Suddenly, in the palm of his hand, a dense chakra took form.

"What is that...?" Naruto asked as he strained to see it.

"It's bad news! Get out of the way!" Minato yelled as the ball fell to Earth. It was all he could do to reach his son before the blow, but Naruto took most of the hit despite his father's efforts. The last thing Naruto saw was a blinding light and a high pitched ringing in his ears followed him all the way to unconsciousness.

/\

"Menma... Menma... Menma!" His mother's voice brought him back from the brink. As Naruto lay on the ground weakened and hurt, his mother collapsed on him and cried in relief that he was alive.

"Mom..." Naruto said weakly.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Kushina sobbed as she gripped onto Naruto.

"What happened?" Naruto asked. His ears were still ringing and his head felt dizzy.

"It was the Masked Man." Minato said solemnly. "He destroyed The Hidden Leaf." Kushina continued to cry over her son as Naruto bolted upright at the words.

"Sakura! We need to go and rescue her!" Naruto shouted out as he rushed to stand up. He tripped and fell at first, only to be caught by his mother.

"Menma, no! You will not go after that man!" Minato demanded.

"What? Why not?!" Naruto asked angrily.

"It's too dangerous!" Kushina said. Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. He brushed off his mother and backed away from his parents.

"So what?! Somebody needs to go and save her!" Naruto yelled in defiance.

"But what if you died?!" Minato cried out desperately.

"What do you mean...?" Naruto asked sadly, not wanting to hear what he was hearing.

"We can't go risking our lives for everyone we know!" Minato yelled.

"But why not?" Naruto asked.

"We may all be ninja, but despite that we're only human!" Hearing these words was like the final pin being set in place. The world was shattering around Naruto. These weren't his parents. They never were.

"_The Leaf is in your hands, Naruto. I believe in you completely."_

The words of the real Minato rung in Naruto's ears as he closed his eyes and shed his tears. He stood there for a moment while his parents looked on in quiet desperation before turning his back on them entirely.

"I'm going." Naruto said with a grim determination.

"Why? Why do you have to go?!" Kushina cried out.

"Because I'm not your son!" Naruto yelled. "I'm not Menma!" Kushina and Minato looked on in disbelief, as if they couldn't understand exactly what he was saying. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I was pulled into this world by Madara Uchiha, and my real parents were Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki, the Jinchurriki of the Nine Tails. They both died defending me and my home when I was born. They were heroes of The Hidden Leaf, and I am the child of heroes! I can't stand around and do nothing while people need me!"

In a flash, Naruto was gone. He took the Red Moon Scroll from the rubble and ignored the cries of these parents for him to stay and he left them behind with no thoughts other than those of Sakura and returning home with her.

_This is it... This is how we'll get home! _Naruto thought to himself as he raced through the trees. _I'll beat this Masked Man and make him tell me where Madara is! Then he'll break this spell and send Sakura and me home!_

/\

On the other side of the country Sakura hung loosely from cursed seal chains. She lazily lifted her head to see the full moon hanging above the treeline in front of her. An old wooden bridge extended into the forest with a dark red railing on its sides and water far below. The cliff sides were white and barren of all but the cracks and crevices that ran down them.

"You're awake." The familiar voice sent Sakura's body into lock down. All of her joints froze and chills went racing down her spine. "I was beginning to think you'd be lost forever."

"Madara!" Sakura said furiously. The restraints strained to hold her down as she pulled with all her might. The chains only seemed to get stronger the more she struggled, however.

"Indeed. Don't bother trying to escape. The more chakra you pour into those chains, the stronger they get. You cannot break them."

"Then I'll just have to break you instead!" She shouted with ferocity.

"Oh, feeling vicious are we? Well, I'd like to see you try and place a finger on me." Madara laughed as he faded straight through Sakura's body. Now that he was in full view of her, she could see that he was nothing but an opaque ghost. "You see, I'm not really in this world. Not the way you are, I'm only watching from afar."

"What do you want from me?" Sakura growled.

"Nothing. I want the Nine Tails and Naruto will bring it to me when he comes to save his despicable princess." Sakura said nothing and didn't respond to his taunts, only glaring as hard as she could at Madara as if her stare would somehow hurt him.

"You keep away from Naruto!" Sakura demanded.

"You are in no position to tell me what to do." Madara said coldly. "Besides, you should be thanking me. We're about to see a once in a lifetime show." He turned as he talked to reveal Naruto, who had just landed on the bridge ahead of them.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled in relief.

"Madara! Get away from her!" Naruto shouted.

"Ah-uh-uh, not so fast. I am not your opponent tonight." Madara said menacingly as the Masked Man jumped from hiding, nearly killing Naruto the instant he landed in front of him. In a flurry of fists and kicks Naruto hopped the railing and was knocked helplessly toward the waters below.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed in fear for his life. Seconds later, three shadow clones came racing up the cliff to meet her as she sighed in relief. In a flash of kunai, Sakura was freed.

"This is getting more interesting by the second." Madara laughed as he faded away, his voice echoing on the wind. Sakura turned with Naruto's clones to hurry back and help the original, but before they could move the nine masked beasts came flying up to stop them. Sakura got away but all the shadow clones were destroyed along with the shrine she was held under. One by one they came speeding out of the smoke to attack her. She managed to deflect the first three but the fourth knocked her flat to the ground. As she got to her feet she prepared for the next assault, only to see whiffs of fire and small traces of lightning in the air and no trace of the beasts.

"Huh?" Sakura said as two men landed in front of her.

"You didn't think we'd let you and Menma have all the glory, did you?" Sasuke asked as he turned around.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted excitedly. "You came to help!"

"Of course I did, Sakura. There's no way I'd let you do this alone." Sasuke said before turning to the man next to him. "Itachi, let's go."

"Right." The man next to her, Itachi, was gone before she ever saw him start to move. In the distance Sakura could see the other beasts scrambling to respond to the sudden appearance of Minato, Kushina, Kakashi, and Gai as they all joined the fight. Kushina was tearing the cliffs apart with a jet-stream of water as she chased a beast rapidly around. Minato teleported at the speed of light and beat down a beast with a massive rasengan. Itachi burned two more to the ground and Sasuke let a lightning storm erupt from his hands.

Down below, Naruto had been getting beaten by every turn of the fist by the Masked Man. As his masked beasts fell and he continued to be outnumbered, he realized he didn't have the advantage anymore and his situation was rapidly declining. "This isn't over!" He shouted in a livid rage as he sprinted towards the cliffs.

"You guys! Take care of the masked beasts, I'm going after him!" Naruto shouted to everyone above.

"Don't act like you need to tell me what to do!" Sasuke shouted back.

"Tch. At least you're the same in this world, jerk." Naruto said with a smile as he chased after the Masked Man. He followed him into a dimly lit cave which became darker with each and every step, until Naruto could see nothing at all.

"If you think you're hidden in here, you're wrong." Naruto stated loudly. "No one can hide from my senjutsu." With a seal of his hands, Naruto released one of the clones he had placed before hand. Fully charged with his sage jutsu, Naruto immediately found the Masked Man and charged towards him. "You're mine!" He shouted as he lunged into a punch. The Masked Man caught his fist in the blinding darkness and stopped Naruto in his tracks.

"Senjutsu is nothing compared to me. I'm done playing around." _Crunch. Snap. _The Masked Man broke Naruto's wrist with one movement and threw him down through the wooden floor. Naruto's senjutsu healed his hand quickly, and by the time the Masked Man was on him Naruto was ready to fight again. He was able to dodge and block every punch and every kick the Masked Man threw, but Naruto's attacks did nothing when they connected. Soon he began to notice that his hands and feet were burning from a familiar feeling despite him not taking any direct attacks. _Something isn't right here. _Naruto thought. He jumped back and dodged a swing from the Masked Man only to be caught by another arm, one big enough to grasp his entire body.

"This..! This is a chakra cloak!" Naruto shouted in realization.

"Too little too late!" The Masked Man yelled as he burst Naruto through the floor again, this time into a deep underground pool lit up by light blue veins of ores and roots. As the Masked Man came into view, Naruto could now see that his entire body was covered in the blood red chakra of the Nine Tails. Six tails had formed behind him as he crouched threateningly across the water. A powerful and ominous wind roared through the cavern as the Masked Man grew exponentially in size. "This fight is OVER!" He screamed psychotically as a black Nine Tailed Fox came roaring into existence, his growls shaking the cave to its very core.

Naruto stood paralyzed in terror and disbelief. "Another Kyuubi? How?!" The behemoth demon snarled and stared him down as the Masked Man stood high on top of his head. "This is bad! This is really bad!" Naruto was in a dead panic as he contemplated his options. _What do I do?! I can't fight the Nine Tails alone! Last time I had Bee and Mom there to help me and I still didn't beat him, I only took his chakra and ran. Now I don't even have Bee or Mom here to help me... Wait! I do have M... I have Kushina here! I need to get to her! _

Naruto jumped high in the air as he tried to escape and the Masked Man followed straight behind. "As if I'd let you leave!" With a ferocious kick he sent Naruto sailing down deep into the waters. Above, Naruto could vaguely make out a tailed beast bomb being formed. Now of all times would be the worst time to run out of Senjutsu, but that's exactly what happened. Naruto coughed at the sudden weight of his injuries he hadn't felt before and swallowed a deep breath of water. As he drowned in the bottomless lake the tailed beast bomb got bigger and bigger. As he began to lose hope of even making it to the surface, Minato once again teleported in and out of danger, bringing Naruto with him safely outside.

Naruto fell flat on the dry ground outside the caves and coughed as if his lungs were going to fall out, even going as far as to throw up a bit of water.

"Man, not a moment too soon, huh?" Kakashi asked.

"Naruto! Are you okay?" Sakura asked as she rushed to his side.

"Y-Yeah! I'm fine. What about you, Sakura?" Naruto asked as he sat up to look her in the eyes.

"Yeah, I'm okay too." She said with a small smile.

"Well I'm glad that everyone is doing so great," Sasuke said sarcastically. "But would you mind telling us what happened in there? Those masked beasts all went flying in there after we thought they were beat, and now all of a sudden Minato here finds you half drowned despite everything being quiet."

As if in response to Sasuke, the quiet was quickly shattered by the explosion of the tailed beast bomb.

"That's what happened in there." Naruto said as he stood slowly. The Nine Tails stood tall on top of the mountain with the Masked Man standing triumphantly on top of him as if he had already won. "He's the Jinchurriki of this world's Nine Tails." The air shifted. Everyone from the Leaf had already thought the battle won, but now they faced a very possible annihilation.

Kushina quickly stood in front of the group. "I'll go first. I'm the only one with the chakra capable of taming the Nine Tails." She said adamantly. Minato and Naruto were quick to stand beside her, eager to back her up. To Naruto's side went Sakura, Sasuke, and Itachi and on Minato's side went Kakashi and Gai. No one was backing down from this fight.

They scattered in time to avoid a blast from the Masked Man who immediately gave chase. The Nine Tails caught Gai and Kakashi with his tails and sent them into craters of their own down in the Earth. The Masked Man fought off Sasuke and Itachi's quick assault while the Nine Tails shot a tailed beast bomb at Kushina. Minato teleported the attack away and Kushina continued with her jutsu. A hundred sage clones of Naruto went into the air to attack the Masked Man - all of which were easily blown away by the Nine Tails. As he was distracted by Naruto, however, Kushina's adamantine chains took full form and trapped the tailed beast.

"Go, Naruto!" Sakura yelled as she threw the original with all her might from their spot out of sight towards the Masked Man.

"Let's do this!" Naruto screamed as he flew threw the air. The Masked Man struggled to keep his balance on top of the Kyuubi and failed to counter Naruto's blow, a powerful punch to his face. The mask shattered and fell to pieces all around him, finally revealing who the man was which shocked everyone into silence as a familiar face slowly pieced itself into view.

"No way..." Sakura mumbled.

"That... That's impossible!" Sasuke said.

"Menma?!" Minato and Kushina exclaimed.

"Surprised?" Menma asked sarcastically. He took this opportunity to launch Naruto far away with a powerful kick and the Nine Tails let off a massive eruption, destroying the cliff they were on and nearly killing everyone involved.

As the smoke cleared, there was no one left standing but Naruto. Kushina's chains had shattered and faded and Naruto stood weary and exhausted. Menma laughed maniacally on top of the Nine Tails, celebrating his victory.

"Now do you see the difference in our powers?!" He shouted down from atop the rubble. "You never stood a chance!"

"Don't think that we're beat just yet..." Naruto said weakly. In an obvious motion, Naruto looked high above Menma.

"What are you..." Menma looked up in a frenzy at the last second, only to see Sakura's heel come raining down on the Nine Tails' head.

"_**CHAAANAROOO!**_" What little was left of the cliff quickly collapsed under the weight of Sakura's attack, leaving the Nine Tails and Menma stunned long enough for Naruto to call back his last shadow clone filled with senjutsu and land a rasenshuriken in between the teeth of the Kyuubi. Menma flew high in the sky to avoid the blow but left himself wide open in exchange. Barely managing to block a bunch from Sakura, he had both his arms broken as he went spiraling down towards Naruto who landed the finishing blow – a classic and powerful rasengan. Menma let out a blood curdling scream of pain as he was launched in the rocks behind them. His body hung there for a moment, stuck in the crevices. The Nine Tails vanished from above and Menma fell forwards towards the ground, causing a loud and sickening _thud_.

/\

Sakura spent most of her chakra reviving everyone. They all gathered around Menma as he lay upon the stone with Kushina and Minato crouched beside him. Kushina picked him up to find his heart faintly beating, and once again she cried in relief for her son – her real son this time.

"The scroll!" Sakura shouted out. "Look at the moon!" Everyone turned to see the moon had turned a deep red, stained vermilion.

"Ah! That's it!" Naruto exclaimed as he hurriedly pulled the bamboo scroll from his pocket. Everyone except for Minato and Kushina was gathered around him now as he opened it, only to find it empty.

"What?!" Kakashi said in shock. "How can this be?"

"I don't get it... Why is it blank?!" Naruto asked in anger."God! We've come so far! This can't be all there is!"

"I don't think it is." Sasuke said coolly. "Call it a hunch, but I think this calls for a special eye. If this so called 'Madara' is the mastermind behind whatever happened to you, I don't think you could have ever read this scroll." Sasuke's eyes slowly shifted to the red sharingan as he studied the scroll intently.

"Of course, Madara would never want us to make it out of here so he made it to where only someone with a sharingan could read the scroll." Sakura said.

"What is this...?" Sasuke asked his brother. "There's a list of hand seals on here, but I don't recognize the jutsu."

"Let me see it." Itachi demanded. Sasuke handed over the scroll and Itachi quickly looked it over with his sharingan. "These are the seals for the Edo Tensei." He said. "Tiger, Snake, Dog, Dragon, Boar."

"Edo Tensei?" Minato asked in confusion. "Why would the seals for Edo Tensei be on that scroll?"

"The Edo Tensei is a type of transportation technique that transports a persons soul," Itachi explained. "Maybe this Madara used that foundation to transport these two here." He looked back to Sakura and Naruto. "Madara probably thought his jutsu invincible, but every jutsu has a weakness. Naruto, Sakura. Make these seals as I tell you. If you cast the jutsu in reverse, you should be able to break it together."

"Leave it to Itachi to figure things out..." Naruto said in amazement. At Itachi's command, they both followed his lead in seals. When they had completed the gestures, something incredible happened - Naruto and Sakura both began to glow with a white light and Menma's black hair began to change back into a bright and golden blonde.

"So it is true, just like Minato said." Sasuke said as he walked closer to the duo, the realization finally and truly dawning on him. "You're not the real Menma." He had come face to face with Naruto now.

"Yeah... It's true." Naruto replied as he turned to face his friend.

"So who are you, then?" Sasuke asked.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be the Hokage!" Naruto shouted in his usual manner. "At least, the Hokage of my world, that is." He said rather sheepishly now. Sasuke let out a quick laugh.

"I have to say, there's something about you that I really like, Naruto. Even if you're not from here and I never really knew you, I'd like to consider us friends." Sasuke said as he held out his fist towards Naruto. Naruto looked down in awe, never thinking that he'd hear these words from Sasuke in such an open manner. With tears swelling at his eyes as he remembered his friend so far gone in the darkness, Naruto replied.

"Yeah, we're definitely friends." Naruto fist bumped Sasuke and in that instant their feelings connected, straight from one heart to another. Somewhere far away from everyone here, Sasuke of the real world sat alone. In that instant he felt one tear roll down his cheek, and he never found out why. The light around Naruto and Sakura quickly grew brighter and brighter before it became too blinding to look at. They all closed their eyes and when they opened them again, Naruto and Sakura found themselves standing in the park again, right by the crater Sakura had left in the ground.

"We... We're home." Sakura said slowly. Naruto looked around him to take in the surroundings, half expecting them to disappear right in front of him. When they didn't, he let himself feel relaxed and sighed in contentment.

"We did it!" He shouted excitedly. "We're home! Yahoooo!" Sakura laughed as Naruto jumped and ran in circles.

"You know that no one's gonna believe us, right?" Sakura asked light heartedly. "That Madara sent us into a dream world where everyone was different, and we had to fight your alter-ego to escape?"

"Okay, yeah, that doesn't sound near as cool as I thought." Naruto said dejectedly. Sakura giggled. "But you know what? That's okay." Sakura was taken aback by his sudden change in demeanor. "For all I care, no one else has to know. This was all just a dream anyway." He took a few steps closer to Sakura. "And I'm ready to move on to my next dream now. No use harboring on the past."

"And what's this new dream that you're thinking of?" Sakura asked shyly, suddenly finding herself feeling incredibly vulnerable in front of the blonde.

"Something about cherry blossoms, I think." Naruto said cheekily. They laughed together and shared another kiss, happy to be home in the right world.

"It's late, Naruto. I think it's time we head back to our own beds." Sakura said as they looked out on the river.

"Yeah, that sounds nice. Can I at least walk you home? Your parents still think we're on that date, ya' know." Naruto said shyly.

"Hmmm, okay." Sakura said after pretending to think on it for a long time. "But only if you promise to kiss me goodnight."

"Don't worry, I promise." And with that they walked hand in hand away from the park. They walked slowly by the river and into the city, eager to go home but not ready to leave each others side. They talked about how everyone would react when they found out about their new relationship and even took bets on who would react the worst. They both agreed that Lee and Hinata would be the most heart-broken, but were relieved to know they wouldn't have to worry for their lives anymore.

Naruto fulfilled his promise. He walked her all the way to her door and kissed her goodbye, making another promise to see her in the morning. Like a school age boy he skipped away from her house, as happy as anyone could be and walked forward down the only path he knew.

/\

Naruto's apartment was dark just like he left it. He had experienced days away, but in this world he had only been gone for maybe an hour or two. After he set his shoes down by the door, Naruto got ready to go to sleep in his bed, but on the way he noticed the kitchen light was still on.

"Did I forget to turn that off before I left?" Naruto asked himself as he slowly opened the kitchen door. On the other side he found Iruka sitting alone, counting the cards he held in his hand.

"Iruka-sensei...? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked in bewilderment.

"Oh, nothing special really. Just thought I'd like to play a game of cards with you tonight is all." Iruka said with his bright and warming smile. Feeling another surge of tears gather at his eyes, Naruto suddenly found himself unable to speak. After everything that happened before he left and despite the way that Naruto had acted towards him, Iruka was still sitting here as loving and accepting as he had always been. In truth, this was one of the most relieving things that Naruto had ever come to find, and it was in that moment that he realized that dreams aren't always what you find when you're asleep, sometimes they're just the people you miss when you're awake.

_Welcome home, Naruto._

_**The End**_


End file.
